STB accepts revised Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application but pauses review

The Surface Transportation Board accepted Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern's revised merger application for consideration in a decision that took effect May 28, 2026. But the board held the proceeding in abeyance until the railroads supply more information.

A second attempt

The revised application, filed April 30, 2026, asks the board to approve Union Pacific Corp.'s acquisition of control of Norfolk Southern Corp. and the consolidation of the two railroads' operations. The board also accepted a related application covering the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway.

It was the railroads' second try. The board rejected their original application, filed Dec. 19, 2025, in a decision served Jan. 16, 2026, finding it incomplete. The board said the filing's impact analyses lacked market share projections consistent with the railroads' own claims that the combined company would grow by diverting traffic from trucks and other railroads. It also said the filing omitted parts of the merger agreement that the board's rules require.

The board had already classified the deal as a "major" transaction in August 2025 because it involves two Class I railroads.

Abeyance and new deadlines

In its May decision, the board said it would hold the proceeding, including the environmental review, in abeyance pending a further order. It required the railroads to file supplemental information by July 27, 2026.

The board rejected several arguments that the revised application was still incomplete, including arguments raised by CN and the National Grain and Feed Association. It said some problems with the filing, including inaccessible items such as a map or workpapers, could be corrected during supplementation and the abeyance period.

The board said the abeyance does not affect discovery.

What it meant for carriers

Competition with trucking figures in the case. The board's January rejection turned on market share projections tied to the railroads' claim that the combined company would divert traffic from trucks.

In May, the board said commenters' challenges to the revised filing's rail-to-rail and truck-to-rail diversion study, sponsored by David Hunt, went to the merits rather than to completeness. It also ordered the railroads to list each shipper facility that would go from two Class I railroads to one, or from three to two, and to explain how competition would be maintained.

The decision is Decision No. 21 in STB Docket No. FD 36873.