The Trump Administration has rolled out a variety of proposed ideas to address the ever-present “affordability” issue. President Trump’s Dec. 17 speech on the topic proposed a number of potential changes — including efforts to reduce drug prices and mortgage payments as well as a tariff dividend — in an attempt to help consumers. However, […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern today defended their merger application as complete. UP said the Surface Transportation Board should reject the efforts, primarily by “competitors who will experience increased competition as a result of the merger,” to delay and prolong the merger process. BNSF, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian National, and CSX all […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern say their yard and terminal capacity expansion plans will help ensure that the combined railroad can handle an anticipated traffic surge within three years of their merger. The transcontinental combination, if approved, will lead to 11% volume growth compared to 2023, the railroads say in their merger […]
Union Pacific’s proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern — an $85 billion deal that would create the first U.S. transcontinental system and potentially lead to additional consolidation among the Class I railroads — is Trains’ top story of 2025. The deal was hardly a surprise when it was announced on July 29. Rumors had been swirling […]
WASHINGTON — Other Class I railroads have found no shortage of deficiencies in the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application and are urging the Surface Transportation Board to reject the document for its failure to address key aspects of the transcontinental combination. Comments from interested parties on the completeness of the application were due on Monday, […]
OMAHA, Neb. — A Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger will lead to higher daily train counts on some key corridors as the railroads tie their networks together, eliminate interchanges, and take shortcuts to avoid Chicago and other gateways. The railroads’ merger application, filed with the Surface Transportation Board on Dec. 19, details projected traffic increases on […]
OMAHA, Neb. — While the end-to-end nature of Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger limits the amount of redundant trackage or facilities, the railroads do have some duplication of facilities at their current interchange gateways. The merger application submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Dec. 19 calls for two intermodal terminals and two auto processing facilities […]
FRONT ROYAL, Va. — The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen has joined the list of unions opposed to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. In an announcement today (Dec. 22), the union cited concerns about rail safety, impacts on workers, and “the concentration of market power” the merger would create. The union urged the STB to reject […]
OMAHA, Neb. — The 6,692-page merger application that Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern submitted to federal regulators last week underscores the benefits of the first U.S. transcontinental merger, UP CEO Jim Vena says. Vena came to Union Pacific as CEO in August 2023 with a transcon merger on his to-do list — and has touted […]
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern currently have more than 2,300 locomotives in storage and anticipate, at least initially, a further reduction in motive-power needs if the railroads are allowed to merge, the railroads say in their application to the Surface Transportation Board. But the combined railroad would need more than 1,000 additional locomotives by year […]
Reactions to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger filing began collecting shortly after the 6,992-page, four-volume document was released early Friday, with most expressing skepticism about the benefits of the first transcontinental merger. Trade groups representing shippers, which had previously indicated concerns about the merger, have issued renewed statements of opposition. Chet Thompson, president and CEO […]
WASHINGTON — The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application filed with the Surface Transportation Board on Friday attempts to explain away adverse effects on passenger trains by vague promises of future “targeted infrastructure enhancements,” but generally doesn’t outline what those might be. In one case, a combined UP-NS proposes adding nine daily freights to a single-track […]
