Keith Creel, chief executive of Canadian Pacific Kansas City, has criticised the UP-NS merger application. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern filed it with the Surface Transportation Board. Creel said the updated proposal still falls short of regulatory expectations and may create risks for the US freight rail sector. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

CPKC locomotive fleet renewal with Wabtec, Progress Rail
Photo: CPKC

Creel said the application was resubmitted on 30 April. In his view, it did not resolve core concerns linked to the planned merger. He said the merged business would handle nearly half of US freight rail traffic. That raised his concerns over competition, supply chains and rail customers.

CPKC questions the UP-NS merger application

Also, Creel questioned whether Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern had met specific requirements under the Surface Transportation Board’s 2001 rules for major mergers. He pointed to CPKC comments submitted on 8 May. Those comments said the revised filing did not appear to include a detailed market impact analysis. The analysis would show projected rail traffic shares by commodity and corridor.

In Creel’s view, this leaves open questions over whether Union Pacific failed to follow the regulator’s instructions or decided not to disclose certain information. Separately, Railway Supply coverage also reflected objections to the revised filing.

CPKC chief executive Keith Creel said:

Having taken nearly four months to refile their application, longer than it took for them to prepare the initial filing, UP and NS’ new application doesn’t change the underlying reality that this mega-merger is unnecessary and falls well short of meeting the high benchmark set out in the STB’s updated 2001 major merger rules.

Surface Transportation Board review remains pending

If approved, the Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger would form one of North America’s largest freight rail operators. Still, the filing remains subject to examination by the Surface Transportation Board. The US regulator is responsible for reviewing major rail transactions.

Creel said CPKC expects the board to conduct a detailed assessment if the revised application is accepted for consideration. In addition, he urged rail customers and other interested parties to take part in the process. They could do so by filing notices of intent and sending comments to the regulator.

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