WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today issued a setback to Union Pacific’s effort to acquire Norfolk Southern, rejecting the railroads’ merger application as incomplete — although that move offers little clue to the eventual prospects for the first transcontinental merger. The decision will slow the merger process, requiring the two railroads to rework three […]
LOWELL, Ark. — J.B. Hunt executives are disappointed that the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application did not include more details about the railroads’ intermodal plans. “We continue to digest the application and had expected more intermodal-specific questions to be addressed in the merger application than there were,” Darren Field, president of J.B. Hunt Intermodal, said […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena had the crowd laughing Thursday (Jan. 15) throughout his talk to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers, to the point that analyst Anthony B. Hatch, the event’s final speaker, said that he appreciated getting the chance “to do a set at the Vena Comedy Club.” One example […]
Railroads proposing mergers inevitably make ambitious promises and projections, particularly about faster service and more competition. Not all of them become reality, despite the best intentions of railroaders who work at a feverish pace to develop the operating plans submitted to federal regulators. A case in point: CSX, as part of its 1999 acquisition of […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer still doesn’t see further rail industry consolidation as inevitable if a Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger is approved. Just the fact that the topic keeps being discussed could be taken as an argument against the merger, Farmer said in a conversation with Trains prior to her appearance today […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The CEOs of Canadian Pacific Kansas City and BNSF Railway took aim at the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger during the first day of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers winter meeting — and urged the rail customers in attendance to voice any concerns they may have to federal regulators. CPKC CEO […]
AYER, Mass. — Norfolk Southern marked a milestone on Tuesday morning when its first New England double-stack train arrived in Ayer, Mass., behind its Conrail and Delaware & Hudson heritage units. With NS engineer Matt Bushart at the throttle and conductor Adam Feeley in the left-hand seat, Chicago-Ayer intermodal train 264 made its inaugural run […]
Athearn HO Johnstown America BethGon Coalporter Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: Single car, $49.99; five-pack, $239.99 Era: 2006+ to 2014+ (varies based on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822; 800-338-4639; athearn.com Athearn HO Johnstown America BethGon Coalporter features: 36” machined metal wheels with RP-25 contours Body-mounted McHenry scale lower shelf couplers […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are withholding key documents that are needed for rival railroads, shippers, and regulators to properly evaluate their transcontinental merger proposal, BNSF Railway and Canadian National have told the Surface Transportation Board. In separate filings, BNSF and CN say the STB cannot properly assess the merger’s potential impacts on […]
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — A shelter-in-place order has been lifted after a hazmat team determined there was no threat from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train wreck near the town of Summerville. The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post that the derailment was reported about 9:51 a.m. ET, with officials issuing […]
Industry analysts speaking at a RailTrends webcast on Thursday (Jan. 8, 2026) were skeptical about some of the claims Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern make in their merger application, including its central theme that the $85 billion combination is fundamentally about volume growth. Independent analyst Rick Paterson noted that UP and NS volumes have been […]
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Paducah & Louisville Railway, R.J. Corman, and Norfolk Southern are among the recipients of funding from the Commonwealth of Kentucky for grade-crossing safety projects, part of almost $3 million in funding awarded under a pair of grant programs by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Projects on the three railroads were among seven […]
