Public Rail Now Statement on Proposed Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific Merger

The Monopoly Problem:  

The U.S. rail system has been reduced to a regionally fragmented duopoly, where chronic short staffing and safety compromises put workers and communities at risk, service for small shippers is unreliable, trains are excessively long, and consumers ultimately pay the price. The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 deregulated most of the freight rail industry, allowing railroads to set rates and abandon service with minimal government oversight. Before Staggers, there were 40 Class I freight railroads; today there are only six.

For over a decade, rail carriers have embraced “Precision Scheduled Railroading” (PSR) — corporate shorthand for running fewer, longer trains with fewer workers to lower the operating ratio and boost profits. Since PSR’s rise in 2012, the rail workforce has been slashed by 17%, less-profitable lines and service stops have been cut, and communities have lost access to essential freight service. Profits have soared — but instead of investing in infrastructure upgrades, expanding service, or transitioning to cleaner Tier 4 or electrified yard locomotives in marginalized communities, the Class I railroads have funneled cash to shareholders. From 2010 to 2020, they spent $196 billion on stock buybacks, ignoring a 2007 Association of American Railroads study calling for $135 billion in capacity expansion to meet 2035 demand. 

Now, in a repeat of this pattern, rail executives are eyeing an $85 billion Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific merger — even as the recent Canadian Pacific–Kansas City Southern merger cost $31 billion. The consequences are predictable: more job cuts, more de-skilling, more service cuts, and more unsafe cost-cutting, all while shareholder profits soar. This merger is not about building a stronger national rail network — it’s about concentrating private wealth and power. Which brings us to the real question for the public: Will we keep trying to patch this broken private monopoly system with limited re-regulation, or will we finally reclaim our railroads under public ownership, where service, safety, and jobs come before shareholder dividends?

Impacts on Railroad Workers: 

The consolidation of 40 Class 1s into 6 regional monopolies have left the rail working labor force in shambles. In 1975 the rail industry employed about 500,000 workers. The deregulation of the industry after the Staggers Act was passed led to substantial reduction in the rail workforce. By the early 2000s, the rail industry employed 250,000. Currently the Bureau of Labor Statistics (if it can be considered reliable anymore) reports less than 153,000 for May 2025.

With this merger, we would expect the jobs cuts and de-skilling to continue in the face of crew reductions, automation, and contract labor outsourcing. All the above undermines safety, because experienced judgment is replaced with automated or scripted processes creating safety issues for the remaining workers and ultimately impacting trackside communities. The loss of railroaders equates to a reduction in union membership thus weakening collective bargaining power. 

Impacts on Service: 

Past mergers have set the precedent for the current expectations. 

Mergers, consolidation, and deregulation over the past 45 years have shrunk the U.S. freight rail network from 240,000 miles of track to just 140,000, concentrating service on the most profitable routes while abandoning rural and small-town communities. For shippers, fewer rail options means diminished bargaining power and higher rates — costs that ripple through the economy to farmers, manufacturers, and consumers in the form of higher prices. As rail competition disappears, price gouging becomes easier, service quality declines, and delivery times grow less reliable.

At the same time, freight monopolies have used consolidation to justify deferred maintenance and unsafe cost-cutting. They run longer, heavier trains on aging infrastructure while slashing inspections, crews, and safety protocols — putting workers, communities, and the environment at greater risk. For passengers, the picture is equally grim: freight carriers routinely delay Amtrak and commuter trains, refuse to prioritize passenger service, and in some cases have eliminated access entirely. A merged Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific would deepen these harms, reducing competitive pressure to keep prices fair, operations safe, and schedules reliable — while maximizing profits for shareholders at the public’s expense.

Impacts on Shippers and Consumers:

Rail is the most efficient and cost-effective way to move freight. Shipping accounts for 10–40% of the cost of many commodities, and moving goods by rail is 3–5 times cheaper per ton-mile than by truck. Yet mergers, consolidation, and deregulation have gutted the network — reduced mileage of track, eliminated deliveries and stops, congested mainlines, and slashed the workforce. These changes have forced more shippers to turn to long-haul trucking just to ensure timely delivery. In agriculture alone, rail’s share of freight has fallen 27% since 2000, with trucks absorbing nearly all the growth in the sector. The result: higher shipping costs that are passed directly to consumers.

Exorbitant freight rates impact us all. Studies show that increased rail service and frequency could save U.S. shippers — and therefore consumers — up to $100 billion annually. But today’s deregulated rail monopolies choose monopoly pricing and cost-cutting over public benefit, operating like 21st-century robber barons to pad the pockets of shareholders at the expense of workers, communities, and the economy. 

Broken Regulatory System

The Staggers Rail Act was built on a false premise: that market competition would discipline rates and service without strong federal oversight. While it left a skeletal framework to guard against monopoly abuse, those safeguards have been gutted in practice. Decades of mergers have eliminated competition, leaving most shippers “captive” to a single carrier. These shippers have almost no practical recourse — the burden of proof lies entirely on them to challenge excessive rates, a process that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, takes years, and only applies to that one case. Even a “win” changes nothing for other shippers facing the same price gouging, driving more freight onto highways.

The Surface Transportation Board — already short-staffed, with two of its five seats vacant — operates as a revolving door, with over a third of its former regulators and staff going on to work for the railroads they once oversaw. Board majorities have repeatedly sided with industry, and enforcement is reactive and weak. Safety oversight fares no better: the Federal Railroad Administration often lags far behind emerging hazards, relies on carriers to self-report, and imposes fines so minimal they are treated as just another cost of doing business. This is not a regulatory system capable of protecting workers, shippers, or the public interest in the face of an $85 billion mega-merger.

This merger exposes the core flaw in the current system: we are trying to regulate 21st-century monopolies with a hollowed-out, 1980s-era framework that assumes competition exists. When competition is gone, when regulators are captured, and when safety and service are sacrificed for stock buybacks, the public is left with two choices.

We could try Re-Regulation — rebuilding real oversight with enforceable service obligations, rate controls, labor protections, and meaningful safety enforcement. Or we can pursue Renationalization — bringing the rail network back under democratic, public ownership so that decisions about service, infrastructure, and jobs are made for the public good, not for quarterly earnings. This merger makes one thing clear: doing nothing is not an option.

This Merger Demands Structural Change

The problem isn’t just this deal — it’s a system that allows a handful of private corporations to control critical national infrastructure, while shareholders and hedge fund managers fill their stock portfolios and bank accounts.
Current laws and regulations are incapable of protecting workers, shippers, passengers, or the public interest because they were enacted for a competitive market that no longer exists. After decades of mergers, the few remaining rail monopolies face no real competition. The STB and the FRA are both toothless and impotent to enact any beneficial change to a multi-billion dollar industry that is literally the foundation of the US economy.
In this environment, consolidation doesn’t just slip through the cracks — it flourishes. If regulators could not or would not stop the $31 billion Canadian Pacific–Kansas City Southern merger from further concentrating market power, there is little reason to believe they will protect the public from the far larger $85 billion Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific deal. Without structural change, this merger will simply accelerate the cycle of fewer jobs, worse service, higher rates, deferred maintenance, and greater risks for trackside communities — while delivering nothing but bigger payouts to shareholders.

This merger is a wake-up call: patching the current system with stricter rules will not solve the structural problem — a handful of private monopolies controlling essential infrastructure for profit. The real solution is public ownership, where the rail network is run for the public good, not quarterly earnings. A nationalized, democratically accountable rail system could restore service, protect workers, lower costs for shippers, and prioritize safety and climate goals. The choice is clear: keep trying to rein in the robber barons, or take the rails back.

Call to Action

Immediate: Demand the STB reject the NS–UP merger.

Or, if they insist on allowing this merger, we’d like these stipulations: 

• Ease the burden of proof for shippers who experience rate gouging
• Enforce the preference for passenger trains to remedy the perpetually dismal on-time performance due to excessively long trains clogging the infrastructure
• More worker protections against job cuts and automation 
• Insist on a % of investment in infrastructure including but not limited to Tier 4 locomotive and/or electrification. If they have money for their monopoly merger, they have money for cleaning up their yards, and investing in track expansion to ease congestion.  

Political: Call on Congress to investigate rail consolidation, the STB’s ineptitude to protect the workers and public, and reform/amend the Staggers Act.

Movement: Build a united front of rail workers, shippers, passengers, and communities to demand structural reform and public rail.

In Summary

Railroads are not just businesses — they are the arteries of the national economy. We cannot afford to let them be further monopolized, gutted for profit, and shielded from accountability by a captured regulator.

The Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific merger is not just another corporate deal — it is a direct threat to workers, communities, and the economy. It is the latest chapter in a decades-long story of deregulation, monopoly consolidation, and public harm. We can no longer pretend that this broken system can be fixed with minor tweaks. The time has come for a structural change that puts rail back in the hands of the people it serves. Public ownership of our rail network is the only way to guarantee safe, reliable, and affordable freight and passenger service, protect good union jobs, and prioritize climate and community needs over shareholder greed. We can keep fighting the same battles against the same monopolies, or we can take the rails back and run them for the public good. The choice is ours — and the time is now.

(Photo: Courtesy of Union Pacific)