Agricultural shippers who want a formal say in the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger have until Friday, Sept. 4, to file a notice of intent to participate with the Surface Transportation Board. The filing makes a company or organization a party of record in Docket FD 36873, which entitles it to be served every subsequent filing in the case and to submit comments, protests and replies as the record develops.
“The deadline is Sept. 4 to protect your voice in this pending merger,” according to Richard Gupton, senior vice president of public policy and counsel at the Agricultural Retailers Association. “A company does not have to take a position. But the notice to participate makes sure your voice is heard in the process.”
That distinction matters for ag retailers, elevators, processors and cooperatives that depend on rail but have carrier relationships to protect. Filing this week secures standing; it does not commit anyone to opposing the deal.
Notices go to the STB by e-filing at stb.gov or by mail and must include a certificate of service showing copies went to the Secretary of Transportation, the U.S. Attorney General, and outside counsel for both railroads—Michael L. Rosenthal of Covington & Burling for Union Pacific and Raymond A. Atkins of Sidley Austin for Norfolk Southern. Copies also go to the administrative law judge assigned to the case, Hon. Jenifer Soulikias.
Ag Opposition to the UP-NS Merger Keeps Building
The STB removed the proceeding from abeyance Aug. 19, and ag opposition has continued to mount since.
The United Sugar Producers and Refiners Cooperative, the nation’s largest farmer-owned sugar marketing cooperative, told the board Aug. 26 the merger would cut the competitive options it uses to move sugar from western plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wyoming to eastern customers. The cooperative relies on BNSF and Norfolk Southern for those moves today; under a combined UP-NS, shipments Norfolk Southern handles would become Union Pacific destinations.
“USPR is concerned that UP/NS will have little incentive to offer competitive rates or short-haul options for our western facilities if it can instead reach the same eastern customers by originating shipments on UP’s western lines through our competitors,” the cooperative wrote. It warned higher transportation costs could reach consumers through prices for products such as candy, beverages and cereal.
Late last week, the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition—whose members include the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Agricultural Retailers Association, The Fertilizer Institute and the American Chemistry Council—wrote to President Trump urging him to oppose the deal, arguing it would put nearly half of U.S. rail traffic under a single company.
Opposition to the merger has also picked up a defector. Ohio Senate Majority Whip George Lang, a Republican whose 4th District covers most of Butler County, formally withdrew an October 2025 letter supporting the merger, telling the board he developed “substantial concerns” after reviewing the applicants’ later filings, including effects on “rail-served agricultural, chemical, and manufacturing customers.”
Union Pacific maintains the combination would create the first single-line coast-to-coast railroad in the U.S., opening roughly 88,000 new shipping pairs and shifting an estimated 2.1 million truckloads a year off highways. The railroad has also noted that competing carriers have financial reasons to block a new transcontinental competitor; BNSF and CPKC are both members of the opposition coalition.
So What’s Next in the STB Review?
Sept. 4 is procedural. Nov. 18 is when the substantive arguments land, with comments, protests and responsive applications due. The schedule the STB set runs into 2027:
- Sept. 9 — Descriptions of anticipated responsive applications
- Oct. 5 — Petitions for waiver or clarification
- Nov. 13 — Environmental information
- Nov. 18 — Comments, protests and responsive applications
- Dec. 3 — Preliminary comments from DOJ and USDOT
- Feb. 16, 2027 — Responses and rebuttal
- March 29, 2027 — Responsive application rebuttals
- May 28, 2027 — Final briefs
A public hearing date has not been set. Whatever a shipper concludes about the merger, the window to get into the case closes Friday.
