Early in February, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., sent a letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs urging a “rigorous and comprehensive review” of the potential merger between Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). Johnson said 47 House members joined the letter. Here’s a link to the letter dated Feb. 4, 2026.
Johnson said the merger could directly affect agriculture’s ability to move grain to domestic and export markets.
“I want to make sure they take a really good look at this. I’m not saying I’m opposed. What I am saying is this is clearly going to have an impact on how agriculture gets crops to market, particularly to the coast,” he told AgriTalk host Chip Flory.
He said he’s hearing concerns from South Dakota constituents and agricultural stakeholders, noting that agriculture is among the nation’s largest rail shipping customers.
“It’s hard to overstate the impact of rail to agriculture, and the STB is supposed to make sure that this is good for customers and good for the public interest,” Johnson said.
The proposed UP-NS combination would be the largest rail merger ever to come before the STB. It would also be the first considered under the agency’s newer merger review rules and amid heightened scrutiny of market concentration.
“I am pretty distrustful of high degrees of market concentration,” Johnson said. “When you remove a major player from the market… we want to make sure there’s still robust competition.”
The companies’ initial STB application was recently rejected without prejudice, meaning UP and NS can revise and refile, because it was deemed incomplete. The companies have until Feb. 17 to file a letter stating their intent to reapply. Until then, the STB and industry stakeholders are awaiting an updated application.
