NSC News & Events

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."

Union Pacific Corporation (UNP) and Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) submitted an amended merger application to the Surface Transportation Board, STB, seeking approval to create America's first transcontinental railroad. Additional analysis reinforces that the combination will drive growth, enable substantial cost savings for shippers and strengthen the U.S. supply chain. "After completing the additional work requested by the STB, the facts remain clear: This merger enhances competition and delivers real public benefits that make America's supply chain stronger," said Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena. "Our analysis uses complete systemwide traffic data provided by all Class I railroads to identify even more opportunities for our combined railroad to grow and compete."

The "Stop the Rail Merger Coalition" launched today to oppose Union Pacific's (UNP) buyout of Norfolk Southern (NSC). The group includes the American Chemistry Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation, Teamsters Rail Conference, BNSF Railway, CPKC Railway, Alliance for Chemical Distribution, National Industrial Transportation League, and Vinyl Institute. The Teamsters Rail Conference makes up the majority of the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern's unionized workforce. "If allowed to move forward, the deal would create the largest consolidated railroad in U.S. history and give a single entity control over almost half of the nation's rail traffic," the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition said in a statement.