Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) filed a 46-page response with the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the US rail regulator, on 12 May, rebutting objections lodged by BNSF, CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) against the merger application.
The two carriers maintain that their amended application, submitted on 30 April, meets all requirements set out by the regulator.
Among the most notable arguments is the use of comprehensive traffic data from all six Class I railroads in North America — unprecedented in the modern history of such proceedings — rather than the sample data typically employed in cases of this kind.
UP and NS also clarify that they are not seeking control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA), pledging to divest or relinquish their respective stakes as a condition of approval. Regarding entities such as Kansas City Terminal (KCT) and TTX, the two companies argue that a 50% shareholding does not constitute effective control.
UP and NS contend that the objections raised by BNSF, CN and CPKC do not challenge the sufficiency of the application itself, but rather raise technical and methodological disputes that are properly resolved during the merits phase of the proceedings, at which point both companies undertake to provide any additional information required.
The merger would create the first transcontinental railroad in the United States, combining UP’s western network with NS’s eastern network into a system spanning more than 50,000 route-miles (80,000 km) across 43 states, with a combined enterprise value in excess of $250 billion.
