Booker Leads Colleagues in Urging Surface Transportation Board to Conduct Rigorous Review of Proposed $185 Billion Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Merger
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 24, 2026 |
| Booker Leads Colleagues in Urging Surface Transportation Board to Conduct Rigorous Review of Proposed $185 Billion Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Merger |
| WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), joined by a group of 22 Senate colleagues, sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) urging the agency to conduct a thorough and independent review of Union Pacific Railroad’s proposed $185 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern Railway, warning that the merger could significantly affect workers, consumers, competition, and the nation’s freight rail system. The proposed transaction would combine two of the nation’s four largest freight railroads, creating the first transcontinental railroad and the largest railroad company in American history.
“As the Surface Transportation Board (STB) considers the proposed merger between Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), we write to express serious concern about the transaction and urge you to thoroughly investigate the potential impacts it would have on competition, workers, and safety in an increasingly consolidated rail industry. If approved, the unprecedented merger would not only create the first transcontinental railroad but it would significantly consolidate our nation’s transportation system, slashing rail jobs across the country, raising prices for customers and consumers, and creating potential supply chain bottlenecks and greater market instability,” wrote the senators. “The proposed UP-NS merger would affect upwards of 50,000 employees directly, though workers on all railroads within the United States will be impacted either directly or indirectly. While under federal law rail workers are provided standard ‘New York Dock’ labor protections, which provide job security after a merger, recent trends in the rail industry have created risks to these workers’ job protections and collective bargaining agreements under a standard merger agreement,” wrote the senators. “We also ask the STB to scrutinize any workforce reductions undertaken by UP or NS before consummation of the transaction, as such actions would undermine any commitment to maintain the workforce afterward,” continued the senators. “In addition to threatening job protections and job stability for rail workers, the proposed merger poses substantial risks for shippers themselves as it will further concentrate market power in an industry that already has limited competitive options. Combining UP and NS would create a single rail handling nearly half of the nation’s rail freight. This significantly increases the likelihood of higher transportation rates and reduces service alternatives for farmers and businesses that depend on reliable, cost-effective rail service,” continued the senators. The senators are urging the STB to specifically:
“Ultimately, the proposed transaction’s likely harms to competition, workers, safety, customers and consumers indicate that the parties are unlikely to demonstrate that this merger would enhance competition and satisfy the public interest standard,” concluded the senators. Senator Booker was joined by Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT),Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Peter Welch (D-VT). Read the senators’ full letter to the Surface Transportation Board here. ### |
