STB: BNSF files merger-denying motion; Hedlund gains second term

BNSF Railway on Friday filed a motion with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) requesting the agency deny Union Pacific Railroad’s and Norfolk Southern Railway’s amended merger application because it fails to present a required “prima facie” case, or a case based on first impression. 

BNSF has focused its motion on a key issue the STB identified in its May decision: Whether the proposed merger would create enhanced rail-to-rail competition. 

BNSF argues that UP-NS' committed gateway pricing (CGP) program doesn’t satisfy that requirement, even after the revisions to the merger application were submitted in late July. That requirement is the sole competitive enhancement the STB identified in the application, BNSF officials said in an email. 

The CGP doesn’t provide shippers access to new rail competitors, applies to less than 1% of rail traffic and only for a limited period, and might cause affected customers to pay higher rates, they said. 

“This is not a merger designed to benefit rail customers or competition. It is not even a merger to strengthen this industry by combining two financially struggling competitors. The only stakeholder that benefits from this scenario is the combined UP/NS, which will have every incentive and opportunity to apply UP’s longstanding high-price strategies on a national scale,” BNSF’s motion states. 

If the merger review continues, BNSF expects to have more to say about the potential cascading harms to shippers, the freight-rail industry and American public. 

“But the board need not wait. The board should deny the merger now because it fails to satisfy the 2001 [merger] rules on its face,” the motion states. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed the nomination of Karen Hedlund to a second term as a STB member. She was re-nominated by President Donald Trump on May 11, 2025. Her second term expires Dec. 31, 2030. 

Prior to joining the STB in 2021, Hedlund served as chief counsel and deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration from 2010 to 2014, and chief counsel of the Federal Highway Administration from 2009 to 2010.