The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger review is moving again, but the latest Surface Transportation Board decision is a restart of the evidence process rather than approval of the transaction. Decision No. 30 removed the proceeding from abeyance effective August 18 and published the schedule in the August 20 Federal Register.
The Board accepted the revised major-merger application for consideration on May 28, then paused the case while it sought more detail. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern filed supplements on July 7 and July 27 covering competitive claims, shipper access, diversion estimates, service assurances, terminal railroads, market-share projections, downstream effects and passenger-rail issues.
The July 27 supplement added four commitments: broader committed-gateway pricing, a targeted access program tied to service performance, a condition addressing post-transaction Class I access at facilities that would move from two railroads to one or from three to two, and a rate dispute-resolution program if projected public benefits do not arrive on time. A separate settlement contemplates Canadian National interests in terminal railroads and access arrangements if the transaction closes and required conditions are met.
STB said the supplements make the record sufficient for review to resume. It also said that conclusion expresses no view on the merits, and it deferred several pending motions and comments for later decisions. Freight customers therefore do not have a merger approval, a final condition set or a new operating plan to use today.
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The immediate assignment is a data one. The Board said filters in parts of the applicants' diversion workpapers appear to have removed at least 31% of merchandise and bulk locations, 59% of intermodal locations and 30% of automotive locations from the final presentation layer. It ordered the applicants to refile filtered or truncated workpapers with all underlying rows by August 28 and to identify which rows were restored.
That directive matters because the case turns on more than a system map. Shippers and regulators will examine route-level competition, gateway access, terminal control, service performance and diversion assumptions. An unfiltered workpaper does not decide whether an analysis is right, but it gives authorized reviewers a fuller basis for testing the result.
The public schedule now has several freight-desk dates. Notices of intent to participate are due September 4. Comments, protests, requests for conditions and responsive applications are due November 18, with preliminary Justice Department and Transportation Department comments due December 3. Responses and rebuttal follow on February 16, 2027; rebuttals supporting responsive applications are due March 29; a hearing date remains to be set; and final briefs are due May 28.
STB also declined to decide the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis divestiture question on an expedited side track. The Board said control of that terminal railroad is better evaluated inside the larger transaction after record development. That keeps a consequential interchange issue connected to the full competitive review.
FreightNews infers that shippers seeking conditions have a reason to organize lane evidence now: current origins and destinations, serving carriers, switching options, gateway performance, service failures and the cost of a lost alternative. The decision does not promise that any requested condition will be adopted, but it establishes when evidence and argument enter the record.
Rail operations remain under today's authorities and agreements while the review proceeds. Carriers, brokers and shippers should not price a future single-line move, interchange reduction or service change as though it already exists. The market event is the opening of a long evidentiary clock, with an August 28 completeness checkpoint before the larger merits deadlines arrive.