BNSF Railway argued that the UP-NS merger application remains incomplete. It made the claim in a May 8 response to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Union Pacific to source most rail from U.S. manufacturer
Photo: Union Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific to source most rail from U.S. manufacturer

The company said Union Pacific’s amended filing to acquire Norfolk Southern still lacks enough information. Regulators and stakeholders need that information to assess the proposed merger.

Union Pacific submitted the revised application on April 30. The STB had previously rejected the earlier version last year as “incomplete.” BNSF is Union Pacific’s main competitor in the West. In its response to the Board, BNSF said the same basic problems remain. The company said the filing should again be rejected by regulators.

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The STB will decide whether the application is complete. It would also have final authority over the proposed UP-NS combination. The merger would create the first single-transcontinental railroad.

BNSF says the revised filing remains incomplete

BNSF’s representatives argued that UP had largely repackaged the earlier application. They said UP had not presented a fully developed proposal. Also, they said the Board and other stakeholders still lacked key information. They needed it to evaluate the transaction.

“At this point, because there is still not a fully formed proposal for the Board’s consideration — and because the application lacks other required information — the Board should find the amended application incomplete,” the response reads.

The filing also said Union Pacific made only “cosmetic changes to gloss over the serious and fundamental competition, pricing and service concerns that were previously raised.” BNSF pointed to the scale of a combined UP-NS system. It said the system would have a 50 percent market share. The market was domestic U.S. rail freight. That share was measured by loaded revenue units originated by Class Is. It would also have 53 percent of the Class I merchandise gross ton miles market. Still, Union Pacific continues to state that the merger would not harm competition.

STB review includes possible further mergers

Separately, BNSF said UP and NS had not addressed another issue. That issue was the potential for an “end game” round of further mergers. The STB’s 2001 merger rules set that requirement. A Class I railroad merger application must analyze the proposed transaction. In addition, it must analyze other combinations that could likely follow.

The STB is expected to decide by the end of May. Its decision will determine whether the UP-NS merger application is complete.

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