Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Late last week, the Wall Street Journal cited exclusive yet unnamed reports Union Pacific was pursuing an acquisition of Norfolk Southern.
This would mean two of the six largest class 1 railroads would be combined to form the first-ever rail service network stretching from coast to coast.
“The question was always, when are we going to get to the time where there’s a lot of energy to pursue a merger from with one of the Western railroads, with one of the Eastern railroads to provide that coast to coast service,” says Mike Steenhoek, executive director for the Soy Transportation Coalition. “And there’s always been kind of a reticence to that, just because there’s has been a lot of mergers and acquisitions within the railroad industry, consolidation, et cetera.”
The current geographic service areas for freight railroads in the U.S. can be broadly described at Union Pacific and BNSF Railway in the western half and Norfolk Southern and CSX in the southern half.
The Surface Transportation Board with its five-member panel would have to approve any acquisition.
Steenhoek also highlights the Department of Justice and Congress/other elected officials would also be involved in any such business transaction and its approval.
“It does show within Union Pacific they think this is a more favorable climate. They’re doing this in year one of a four year administration,” he says. “And so I think there’s some optimism they might get some traction on this. But either way, even if the climate’s favorable, it’s going to take multiple years for this to go through.”
No official comments have been made by either Union Pacific or Norfolk Southern, and it’s worth noting Union Pacific Corporation will release its second quarter 2025 financial and operating results on Thursday, July 24. Northfolk Southern’s next investor report is next Tuesday, July 29.
What could this mean for agriculture?
If this speculation materializes into confirmed news, Steenhoek says shippers will be focused on how any such merger would effect service.
“You’re going to hear a lot of opposition among agricultural shippers because there has been a track record–this is undeniable–that in especially in certain areas, when you see more consolidation within the rail industry, all of a sudden, a shipper, a grain handler, maybe had multiple railroads competing for their business. Now, all of a sudden, there’ll be one,” he says.
Steenhoek says with railroad mergers over time, the agricultural industry has faced upward pressure on rate as well as diminished service.
“Tor someone who advocates for efficient movement of agricultural products, we want transportation providers, including railroads, aggressively competing for our business. That’s good for us,” he says. “And so that’s one of the things that we are going to hear a lot of concern being expressed among grain shippers and handlers about, you’re going to decrease competition and we’ve been down this road before. It’s going to probably result in increased rates, decrease in service.”
The most recent approved railroad merger was in 2023 when Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern merged. The transaction formed the first cross border network connecting Canada, U.S. and Mexico.
Citing 2024 annual reports of Class 1 Railroads (which are defined to have operation revenues of $490 million or more by the Federal Railroad Administration), here’s the ranking:
- Union Pacific: $24.3 billion
- BNSF Railway: $23.4 billion
- CSX Transportation: $14.54 billion
- Canadian National Railway: $12.4 billion
- Norfolk Southern Railway: $12.1 billion
- Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Railway: $10.4 billion
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
Comments are closed.