CSX Mobilizes Shippers Today Against UP-NS Merger to Protect 244,000 Annual Freight Loads

The proposed UP-NS merger has prompted CSX to open a new website for customers. The deal involves Union Pacific’s proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern. CSX says it would create an imbalance in the U.S. freight rail network and reduce shipper choices. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

The company said the CSX website is meant to guide customers. It shows how they can take part in the Surface Transportation Board review.

Also, CSX frames that participation around competition, routing options, and public interest.

CSX website focuses on the proposed UP-NS merger review

“Today’s U.S. Class I freight rail system is competitively balanced, consisting of six carriers: two western railroads, two eastern railroads, and two Canadian carriers providing north-south service,” CSX said. “This industry structure has supported routing options and competitive choices for rail shippers. The proposed combination would create a single transcontinental carrier alongside four regional carriers, resulting in an industry imbalance that would reduce viable options for shippers. These are among the matters the STB will consider to determine whether the proposed transaction is in the public interest and enhances competition.”

The website is called CSXstayingontrack.com.

CSX remains the odd man out in the current merger landscape. Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF Railway, CSX’s logical merger partner. Berkshire Hathaway has said it is not interested in acquiring an Eastern railroad. Also, BNSF has said it opposes the merger.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern filed a revised merger application last week. It projects annual load captures for the proposed coast-to-coast system. Those include 303,000 loads annually from BNSF and 244,000 from CSX.

Freight rail competition and shipper options

“Our customers depend on a competitive and healthy freight rail system. Customers and the communities we serve have a stake in this review, and we are here to help them be heard,” CSX CEO Steve Angel said in a statement.

Separately, Angel told employees today that CSX is running well. He said its improved first-quarter financial results show the railroad has momentum.

“We have plenty of work to do, but our direction is clear: making CSX a best-in-class railroad,” Angel wrote. “Whatever the industry looks like a year from now or three years from now, the railroad that runs the best, serves its customers the best, and generates the best returns on capital will be in the strongest position. That is the work that is in front of us regardless of how this situation evolves.”

News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply that you might have missed: