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House Panel Demands Rigorous Review of UP-NS Merger

The House Appropriations Committee has directed the Surface Transportation Board to conduct a comprehensive examination of Union Pacific's proposed $72 billion merger with Norfolk Southern. The bipartisan committee added language to the fiscal 2027 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill during June 2 markup, signaling Congressional resolve to scrutinize the deal that would create the first all-freight transcontinental railroad. The directive emphasizes the STB's obligation to ensure substantial public benefits and enhanced competition for shippers. The Stop the Rail Merger Coalition, representing shippers, railroads, labor unions, consumers, and public policy groups, warned that the deal could drive up prices for rail shippers and consumers, weaken the workforce, and destabilize the nation's supply chain. The STB's 2001 merger rules, revised after a series of chaotic consolidations, now require applicants to preserve and enhance rail-to-rail competition for the first time. The agency has assembled extensive data, including six years of traffic tapes and 120 million data points, with assistance from Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers ahead of its review.