BNSF, CPKC, and CSX to request broad access to a combined UP-NS network

BNSF Railway, CPKC, and CSX plan to seek broad trackage rights over a combined Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern system, if federal regulators approve the transcontinental merger. Notably, CPKC and CSX are targeting the same corridor: They want access to the Kansas City-St.

Louis trackage now controlled by UP or NS, arguing that the merger partners’ existing fix — trackage rights for Canadian National — doesn’t restore meaningful competition. The railroads outlined their plans in Wednesday regulatory filings with the Surface Transportation Board.

The filings tip their hands regarding so-called responsive applications the railroads expect to submit by a Nov. 18 deadline. Numerous short line railroads filed similar requests for trackage rights and, in some cases, access to local customers.

All three Class I railroads urged the STB to reject the UP-NS merger outright, saying it will harm competition, hurt the economy, and is not in the public interest. But if the board does approve the $85 billion deal, the railroads said regulators should impose numerous conditions to mitigate potential competitive harms.

“If the Board decides to go down the path of allowing this merger to fundamentally transform the industry, then it must also fundamentally transform the industry with commensurate conditions to lessen the blow to shippers and the American public,” BNSF told the STB.

“To be clear, conditions can only mitigate some of the harm to competition caused by this merger.” BNSF will seek 824 miles of trackage rights over Norfolk Southern’s Premier Corridor between Chicago and intermodal terminals in Eastern Pennsylvania. The trackage rights would extend from Chicago to Bethlehem, Pa.

, including the Chicago Line from Chicago to Cleveland; the Cleveland Line from Cleveland to Alliance, Ohio; the Fort Wayne Line from Alliance to West Pitt, Pa. ; the Pittsburgh Line from West Pitt to Harrisburg, Pa. ; and the Harrisburg Line to Wyomissing Jct. , Pa. ; plus segments of the Reading Line and the Lehigh Line east of Wyomissing.

The route is a major intermodal lane for BNSF and NS interline service today, particularly for shared customer J. B. Hunt. “BNSF and NS are currently aligned on working together to provide this intermodal service to customers.

If the Board approves the proposed merger, however, UP/NS would have the ability and incentive to ensure that BNSF is not a competitive option from a pricing and service perspective,” BNSF told the board. “Once BNSF is eliminated or limited from that market, UP/NS will be able to extract higher prices from its customers.

To mitigate the loss of competition and degradation in service, BNSF anticipates submitting a responsive application seeking overhead trackage rights on certain NS lines between Chicago and eastern Pennsylvania.”

In the Gulf Coast — home to clusters of petrochemical plants and their lucrative carload traffic — BNSF will request that the STB require UP to create a neutral switching or terminal railroad that would directly serve all UP- and BNSF-rail-served facilities.

“Many Gulf Coast shippers are dependent on the UP network without competitive rail alternatives — a dependence that forces captive shippers to pay higher rates than shippers with access to multiple carriers — and the UP/NS merger would exacerbate these harms because Gulf customers ship significant volumes to eastern markets where CSX and NS compete today.

Post-merger, UP would leverage its increased market power — and its practice of bundling rail service to customers with multiple facilities across its network — to impose still higher rates on these captive shippers,” BNSF told the board.

Thus BNSF proposes a neutral carrier that would provide BNSF, UP, and potentially other railroads equal access to rail-served customers in the region. If approved, this would have a major impact: UP has the industry’s largest chemical franchise and the railroad serves roughly 900 customers in Houston alone.

“The neutral terminal railroad would haul, switch, or interchange traffic to UP and BNSF at nearby hand-off points. The railroad could be jointly owned and managed by UP and BNSF (although other railroads could participate depending on the geographic territory involved) or be a third-party shortline operator or switching railroad,” BNSF said.

CPKC wants trackage rights improvements CPKC said it will propose eight conditions that strengthen or protect its current trackage rights over UP in Texas and on NS between Detroit and Chicago. CPKC also intends to seek new operating rights over UP in Louisiana and Texas. And it will ask for trackage rights over NS in the Kansas City-St.

Louis corridor and new or adjusted trackage rights over UP in Kansas City and Chicago. CPKC’s cross-border corridor across Texas relies on trackage rights over UP between Beaumont and Rosenberg, and then again from Victoria to Robstown. CPKC will ask the STB to remove various restrictions on commodities it can handle over the route, including acces