Overview of the Transaction

On April 30, 2026, Union Pacific Corporation (UPC), Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP), Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC), and Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NS) (collectively, Applicants) filed a revised application with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) in Docket No. FD 36873 seeking authority for (1) the acquisition of control by UPC of NSC, and through NSC of NS and NS’s rail carrier subsidiaries, and (2) the resulting common control by UPC of UP and NS and the consolidation of the rail operations of UP and NS (the Transaction).

UP operates approximately 32,880 miles of rail line in 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States.  UP has eight principal routes: three anchored in Chicago, three anchored in Los Angeles, one between border crossings in Mexico and Chicago, and one between Seattle and Los Angeles.  NS operates approximately 19,200 route miles in 22 eastern states and the District of Columbia.  Four principal routes are the core of NS’s network. Three run between Chicago, Atlanta/Chattanooga, and the Northeast, and the fourth runs from Chicago to Norfolk, Virginia.  UP and NS provide rail service to a variety of industries, including agriculture and minerals, automotive, chemical and petroleum, energy, industrial, and consumer products.

If the Board authorizes the Transaction, UP and NS would combine into a single rail system to be known as Union Pacific.  The Transaction would be mostly “end to-end” because the existing UP and NS systems only overlap in Missouri and Illinois.  The combined UP-NS network would comprise approximately 50,000 miles of track in the U.S. across 43 states, including rail lines over which Applicants have trackage rights.

The Transaction would result in changes in rail traffic on portions of the combined rail network.  Rail traffic would increase on some rail line segments and would decrease on others.  Rail line segments, rail yards, and intermodal facilities in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming could experience operational changes that would exceed the Board’s thresholds for environmental review.

Applicants are not proposing to construct any new rail lines that would require a license from the Board or to abandon any rail lines as part of the Transaction.  To support increased rail traffic on the combined network, Applicants are proposing to construct capital improvements, such as extending sidings along the UP and NS mainlines and to expand the footprints at some existing yards and intermodal facilities, as part of the Transaction.  These merger-related capital improvements would take place in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas.

Last updated on August 19, 2026