The Surface Transportation Board has restarted its review of the proposed Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger, removing the proceeding and its environmental review from abeyance and establishing a procedural schedule for evaluating the transaction. The agency emphasized that the decision is procedural and does not constitute a ruling on the merits of the merger application or on issues raised by commenters.
The Board had accepted Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s revised major merger application for consideration on May 28, 2026, but placed the proceeding in abeyance while requesting supplemental information from the applicants. The railroads subsequently provided additional information on July 7 and July 27.
The STB said the record is now sufficient to resume the procedural schedule, although that determination should not be interpreted as a finding regarding the merits of the proposed combination.
The newly adopted schedule establishes a formal process for public comments and is intended to give stakeholders and the Board sufficient time to evaluate the potential impacts of the merger.
Parties that want to participate as Parties of Record and receive copies of filings in the proceeding must submit notices of intent to participate by September 4, 2026. Parties that have already submitted notices do not need to file them again.
Comments on the revised merger application, including protests, requests for conditions and other evidence or arguments opposing the transaction, are due November 18, 2026.
Responses to those comments, protests and requests for conditions are due February 16, 2027.
The Board also plans to hold a public hearing as part of the review. The date or dates have not yet been determined and will be established in a subsequent decision, but the STB expects the hearing to occur before final briefs are due.
In addition to restarting the procedural schedule, the STB directed Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to refile certain workpapers without screening or filtering criteria so regulators can review the complete datasets. Those unfiltered workpapers are due August 28.
The Board also denied the applicants’ request for an expedited proceeding concerning their proposals to divest control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
The latest decision moves the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern proposal into an active phase of regulatory review, with public participation, responses, a future hearing and additional data review now forming part of the process.
The Surface Transportation Board is the federal agency responsible for the economic regulation of several forms of surface transportation, primarily freight rail, with a statutory mandate focused on supporting an efficient, competitive and financially sound transportation network.
