HELENA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined attorneys general from five other states this week in urging a federal regulatory board to reject the merger application between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern as incomplete, arguing that the proposal as filed lacks critical information needed to assess its impact on competition and consumers.
In a letter dated May 22 and addressed to the Surface Transportation Board, Knudsen and his counterparts from Iowa, Kansas, Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota asked the board to withhold a completeness finding — which would trigger full merits review — until the two railroads provide additional information on market share projections, downstream consolidation risks, and control of jointly owned industry assets.
The proposed merger would combine two of the nation’s largest freight railroads. Union Pacific, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, operates primarily in the western United States, while Norfolk Southern, based in Atlanta, serves the eastern half of the country. A combined entity would span the continent, creating what critics have described as a transcontinental railroad of unprecedented scale. The attorneys general noted that the applicants’ own projections show the merged company would control approximately 50 percent of all U.S. Class I freight rail traffic, with even higher market share concentrations in specific commodities and shipping corridors.
The coalition argued that those market share figures are buried in appendices and backup spreadsheets rather than presented in a clear and accessible format, making meaningful review difficult. The letter also criticized the application for failing to analyze the potential for further industry consolidation — a scenario the attorneys general said the railroads’ own leadership had reportedly discussed internally when evaluating the transaction.
A third area of concern involves the merged company’s potential control over jointly owned rail industry assets, including the Kansas City Terminal Railway Company, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, and railcar pooling company TTX. Without adequate divestiture terms — including identified buyers, pricing, and closing conditions — the attorneys general said they cannot evaluate whether those shared assets would remain competitively neutral after the merger.
The letter also noted that the applicants have filed seven amendments to the merger application, further complicating the review process for state officials and other stakeholders. The attorneys general acknowledged filing their letter after the board’s May 8 deadline for completeness comments, citing the voluminous nature of the application and associated backup files, and requested that the board waive the deadline and accept their submission.
The coalition framed its concerns in part around potential harm to Montana shippers, many of whom rely on rail corridors and shared equipment pools that pass through the gateways at issue in the proposed divestitures.
The Surface Transportation Board has not yet issued a ruling on the completeness of the application. Until the board finds the application complete, full merits review of the proposed merger cannot begin.
By: Big Sky Broadcasting Newswire
