Passenger group calls for STB to reject UP-NS merger

Editor's Note: The Rail Passengers Association has joined the growing ranks asking the STB to reject the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. The carriers promise more freight while assuring the public that passenger trains will somehow fit into whatever capacity remains, an old railroad custom in which the corporation claims tomorrow’s profits while everyone else is asked to make do with yesterday’s railroad. A transcontinental system controlling routes used by millions of passengers cannot be judged solely by whether it preserves what little service exists today. Railroads were not built merely to enrich those who own them; they are arteries of commerce, labor and public life. If UP and NS want the power that comes with an empire, the public has every right to demand something more substantial than their assurances.

WASHINGTON — The Rail Passengers Association on Wednesday, Sept. 9, called for the Surface Transportation Board to reject the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, saying the UP-NS application ignores potential expansion of passenger service as part of its failure to make a prima facie case for the transaction.

In a 63-page filing, the RPA argues that the UP-NS application treats the railroads’ passenger obligation only as a need to maintain current service levels. “That standard is too narrow,” the group contends, “and the evidence offered to satisfy even that minimal standard is insufficient.”

In a press release accompanying the filing, RPA CEO Jim Mathews said UP and NS must provide the board with enough information to make a decision. “On passenger rail, they still haven’t done that,” he said. “They tell us there is enough capacity. They tell us existing agreements will continue. What they still haven’t shown is how the additional freight trains they project will actually operate alongside scheduled passenger trains.”

The group specifically supports the motion to deny the application from a coalition of shippers’ organizations [see “Railroads, shipper organizations ask regulators …,” Trains.com, Aug. 7, 2026]. That motion, and similar filings by BNSF Railway and CSX, are still pending. When the board has set a procedural schedule for consideration of the merger, it said it plans to separately address the motions to deny [see “Regulators set schedule …,” Aug. 18, 2026].

The shippers’ groups, the RPA says, “correctly explain that an application can fail the prima facie requirement in two ways: by omitting facts necessary for the required findings, or by presenting facts that affirmatively demonstrate public-interest harm. The passenger presentation does both.”

While the UP-NS filing says the merger “satisfies ‘every element of the relevant statutes and regulations,’” the RPA contends, “it does not mention passenger service, Amtrak, commuter rail,” a statutory requirement to address passenger service, “or the Board’s passenger-specific supplementation questions. … Applicants omit a timetable-based operating model, a passenger-specific dispatching plan, transparent capacity workpapers available for meaningful public testing, and any serious assessment of the federally selected passenger projects that could depend on the combined carrier.”

That last point refers to potential additions to the Amtrak map under the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development program, which in 2023 selected 63 passenger routes for further development [see “Full list of passenger routes …,” Trains.com, Dec. 8, 2023]. The RPA says that 41 of those 63, or more than 62%, would at least in part be dependent on the post-merger Union Pacific.

In terms of existing Amtrak operations, the RPA filing says that both UP and NS currently exceed the regulatory target for host-railroad-caused delays, and inadequately address how the increased freight traffic projected in the application would impact passenger rail. The RPA notes that amended application anticipates increased freight traffic of two to 10 trains per day on 42 Amtrak route segments; while it says sufficient capacity will exist on 31 of those, it does not offer details. “Applicants’ burden cannot be satisfied by repeatedly writing ‘sufficient’ next to increases of this size,” the RPA argues. “The same traffic projections support Applicants’ claimed merger benefits. Their operating consequences must receive equally rigorous treatment.”

The RPA asks that if the STB does not deny the merger application, it should impose a minimum of a dozen conditions to protect passenger service. These include enforceable performance standards, predetermined triggers for corrective action, preservation of capacity for projects in the Corridor ID program, public reporting of passenger performance, and a minimum of five years of continuing STB oversight of passenger conditions.

“The burden belongs to the railroads proposing the merger,” Mathews said. “With this much of the country’s current and future passenger network potentially affected, passengers should not have to take adequate capacity on faith.”

Union Pacific says the merger will preserve existing passenger agreements while creating the potential for expanded and improved service.

“Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have a longstanding partnership with passenger rail providers, built on a strong record and billions of dollars in shared infrastructure investments,” UP spokeswoman Kristen South said in an email. “The combination preserves every existing passenger rail commitment and creates new opportunities for future service growth. By creating a transcontinental network with fewer freight interchanges, the combination will help ease congestion on shared corridors, improving efficiency for both freight and passenger rail operations.”

NS noted that it has supported the launch of 11 new route Amtrak train starts — or 22 trains per day — in the last 16 years.