CNI News & Events

Olivier Chouc, Executive Vice-President and Chief Legal Officer, CN said, "CN (CNI) commends the Surface Transportation Board's for its decision to freeze the merger review and order Union Pacific (UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NSC) to provide substantial additional information. This confirms what CN and many stakeholders have said all along: UP and NS still have not submitted a credible case to support their proposed merger. As the Board cautions, the Applicants' 'supplemental filing' in July must present a 'prima facie case,' which means a case that meets the public interest standard at first glance. That burden belongs to UP and NS alone. It is not the job of public officials and stakeholders to fill the gaps in the Applicants' case. The process should not move forward before Applicants' "prima facie" showing has been made. The Board gave a clear roadmap earlier this year, but UP and NS continue to leave major gaps-which the STB finds 'concerning in their frequency and magnitude'-in their amended application, including unresolved competitive harms, inadequate market share analyses, and the absence of meaningful measures that would enhance competition as required under the STB's heightened merger rules. The STB agrees with CN that the amended application 'lacks clarity and detail' and does not afford parties a meaningful opportunity to comment on the merits of the merger. The STB's latest action reinforces that the Applicants have still failed to provide the information necessary for regulators, shippers, labor groups, and other stakeholders to fully assess the competitive and operational impacts of the proposed merger. The Applicants have not done their homework, and they cannot expect anyone else to bail them out. The STB's request for additional information underscores that the Applicants have failed to meet the rigorous standards required for a merger that would reshape the American rail network and concentrate control over approximately 40% of U.S. freight rail traffic in one railroad. Indeed, the STB warned that the 'real-world consequences' of a merger like this 'cannot be ignored, assumed away, or overlooked based on vague intentions or promises.' The Board already told the Applicants what was missing. Instead of fixing the gaps in their case, UP and NS largely recycled the same deficient arguments and inadequate analyses. CN from the beginning has emphasized that the heightened merger rules require applicants to demonstrate real competitive enhancements and clear public benefits. UP and NS have failed to meet that standard. At every stage of this process, the record continues to show an application full of holes, unsupported assumptions, and remedies that fall far short of what is required for a major merger between Class Is. Applicants need to take this process seriously, and so far, they have not done so. CN continues to believe the amended application for the proposed merger would reduce competitive rail options for shippers, increase concentration across key freight corridors, and create significant downstream risks for the supply chains. The Applicants' proposed remedies remain narrow, temporary, and insufficient to offset the merger's competitive harms. As the Board recognized today, their heavily promoted Committed Gateway Pricing program applies to only a tiny fraction of rail traffic and, according to the Applicants' own evidence, may leave many shippers worse off with higher rail shipping costs. CN appreciates the STB's continued commitment to a thorough and transparent review process and remains confident the Board will hold the Applicants to the full requirements of the law and the public-interest standard. CN looks forward to reviewing the supplemental information that Applicants have been required to provide."

CN (CNI) filed comments with the Surface Transportation Board that it says demonstrate that the amended merger application submitted by Union Pacific (UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NSC) "still fails to meet the Board's requirements and thus remains incomplete." CN, which is urging the Board to reject the amended application, states: "CN's filing shows that the amended application continues to omit required information regulators and stakeholders need to meaningfully assess the competitive and operational impacts of this major proposed merger. Of the three independent deficiencies the Board identified in rejecting Applicants' first application in January 2026, the amended application meaningfully addresses only one - providing the complete Merger Agreement - while failing to remedy the other two. Applicants still have not offered meaningful competitive enhancements, falling far short of the STB's higher burden for Class I mergers to enhance competition and meet the public interest standard."

CN (CNI) announced that it continues to review Union Pacific (UNP) and Norfolk Southern's (NSC) amended merger application submitted to the Surface Transportation Board and will remain actively engaged in this process. The company said, "Despite having addressed certain deficiencies, the Applicants have failed to materially improve the amended application in ways that address the competitive harms of the merger, despite the Surface Transportation Board's clear encouragement to do so. Most notably, they have not remedied the significant competitive harms posed by the merger, nor have they offered any meaningful competitive enhancements as required under the Board's new rules. These failures should be fatal to the application. The Applicants falsely continue to call their merger end-to-end. However, as CN has previously demonstrated, the Company continues to believe the areas of competitive overlap and harms are more extensive than those identified in this amended application. CN is well positioned to provide solutions to the issues the Applicants acknowledge, as well as those harms they have yet to address."