Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have applied to the US Surface Transportation Board (STB) for approval to merge. This would create a continuous rail freight transport network covering around 50,000 km of track in 43 federal states and connecting to over 100 ports. The end-to-end transaction, agreed on 29th July 2025, is expected to convert around 10,000 existing interline services into continuous single-line connections and shift up to 2 million truckloads per year to rail. Investments of EUR 1.8 billion (USD 2.1 billion) and annual capital synergies of EUR 113.5 million are planned. Around 900 additional unionised jobs are to be created by the third year after completion. The nearly 7,000-page application, supported by around 2,000 letters of support, contains commitments to keep all gateways open, voluntary committed gateway pricing, an alternative dispute resolution mechanism and special systems for passenger transport. The STB has requested comments on the completeness of the application by 29th December 2025. A decision on whether to accept the application for substantive review and the further procedural timetable are still pending. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2027.
