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Business|Union Pacific to Buy Norfolk Southern in $85 Billion Railroad Deal
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/business/union-pacific-norfolk-southern-merger.html
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The merger would create the United States’ first coast-to-coast rail network, spanning 50,000 miles and 43 states.
July 29, 2025Updated 7:50 a.m. ET
Union Pacific, a freight rail giant, announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to acquire Norfolk Southern, another large railroad, in a deal worth $85 billion.
The merger would create the United States’ first coast-to-coast rail network and span some 50,000 miles across 43 states. But the deal would put around two-fifths of rail freight in the hands of one company, raising fears that it would reduce competition in a crucial industry.
Union Pacific, which operates west of the Mississippi River, and Norfolk Southern, whose tracks are mostly east of it, said the combined company would deliver freight faster by eliminating the need to switch railroads and opening new routes.
“Railroads have been an integral part of building America since the Industrial Revolution, and this transaction is the next step in advancing the industry,” Jim Vena, chief executive of Union Pacific, said in a news release on Tuesday. The new company will be called the Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad.
Union Pacific said it was offering a combination of cash and stock for Norfolk Southern.
“It will make the railroads more efficient,” said Tony Hatch, a veteran rail analyst at ABH Consulting. “And it adds reliability, which is the biggest rail issue.”
The combined company would have over 50,000 employees, four-fifths of whom belong to unions.
The merger announcement comes two and a half years after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, upending life in the town for months. Last year, the company fired of its chief executive for having an affair with its chief legal officer.
