Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and BNSF Railway delivered sharp criticism of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s revised merger application, arguing the amended filing remains fundamentally incomplete despite four months of additional preparation time.
The three rail giants filed separate comments with the Surface Transportation Board on May 8, 2026, urging regulators to reject the resubmitted application for what would create North America’s largest freight railroad and give a single entity control over nearly half the nation’s rail traffic.
Application addresses only one of three deficiencies
CN’s filing demonstrates that UP and NS meaningfully addressed just one of three critical deficiencies the STB identified when rejecting their initial application in January 2026. While the companies provided the complete merger agreement as required, they failed to remedy two other significant shortcomings.
The amended application continues to lack complete competition analyses required by STB regulations, consistent market share information, and accurate identification of shipping points that would lose competitive rail options. The filing also omits analyses of downstream competitive impacts from future rail consolidation and fails to include a required application for control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
“Rather than provide the required competition analyses, they recycled the same flawed approach the Board already rejected,” said Olivier Chouc, CN’s executive vice president and chief legal officer. “This is not a serious effort to comply with the board’s requirements, it is a disregard for the process and for the stakeholders who depend on it.”
BNSF identifies five major gaps
BNSF Railway’s filing stated the amended application “makes things worse, not better” and identified five areas where the application remains incomplete. The railroad said the merged entity would control 50% of domestic U.S. rail freight market share and 53% of Class I merchandise gross ton miles, figures that far exceed levels associated with competitive harm under Department of Justice guidelines.
BNSF highlighted problems with terminal railroad control, noting that if consummated, UP-NS would own 57% of the TRRA and control four of seven board seats. The applicants promised to divest or relinquish control but have not identified a buyer, price or deal terms.
The railroad also criticized UP and NS for failing to provide fully developed solutions for shippers that would lose competitive options, noting UP had five months to negotiate trackage rights agreements but “has done nothing.”
BNSF accused the applicants of maintaining “two sets of books,” providing conservative growth projections to regulators while signaling to Wall Street that market shares and pricing power would be higher.
Pricing program criticized as inadequate
CN highlighted significant problems with UP and NS’s proposed Committed Gateway Pricing program, their sole alleged competitive enhancement. The temporary program applies to less than 1% of U.S. rail traffic and excludes major categories including finished vehicles, intermodal shipments, unit trains and all customers currently served by CN, CPKC and most short lines.
According to the applicants’ own expert analysis, the pricing program would harm many shippers by increasing rail shipping costs, as demonstrated in state maps submitted with CN’s comments.
Opposition coalition forms amid public concerns
A new coalition launched the same day unites major railroad operators, customers and workers opposing the merger. The Stop the Rail Merger Coalition includes the American Chemistry Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, Teamsters Rail Conference, BNSF Railway, CPKC Railway, Alliance for Chemical Distribution, National Industrial Transportation League and Vinyl Institute.
A national poll released by the coalition shows 71% of Americans oppose the merger after learning about its impacts, while just 20% support it. The survey found 68% believe the merged company would keep promised cost savings rather than passing them to businesses or consumers.
“This merger would lead to greater consolidation and higher costs when farmers are already hard-pressed with economic headwinds beyond their control,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
CPKC President and CEO Keith Creel emphasized that the revised application fails to meet STB requirements for detailed market impact analysis. Both companies encourage rail customers and stakeholders to actively participate in the regulatory review process.
