Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are in merger talks to create North America’s largest railroad

The integration discussions started during the first quarter of this year, according to a person familiar with the talks that were not publicly discussed. It will combine the largest and smallest shipping railway in the country.

Both railways refused to comment.

Inside the industry, there is a large -scale debate on whether this integration will be approved by the superficial transport board although these organizers agreed to the deal that created the CPKC railway two years ago with Canadian Pacific acquisition on the Kansas City Southern railway.

This merger collected the smallest main railway in North America and left only six main charging lines. But it was the first major railway merging that was approved in more than two decades.

The US railway integration bar in the United States grew up in the beginning of the century after a catastrophic mix of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific in 1996 that sparked the railway movement for a long time, followed by the 1999 division of Conrail between Norfolk South South and CSX, which created backup copies in the East.

To agree, any Mergery for the main railway must clarify that it will enhance competition and serve the public interest under the 2001 bases.

The CEO of Union Pacific Jim Vena spoke earlier this year about the potential benefits of such a merger because it will simplify delivery operations throughout the country by getting rid of delays that come with one railway to deliver charges to another. In addition, it will simplify the charging of companies that depend on railways to provide raw materials and final products.

But in the past, some trucks raised concerns about the consequences of leaving them with fewer options to charge their goods because the main railway is already strong.

Some investors have long argued that the industry must eventually integrate to the East and West railway that crosses the United States along with the railway that actually cross Canada. But the organizers were skeptical and took a cautious approach. Any proposed deal will face a long STB review. This council is currently divided equally between two Republicans and two Democrats with one open seat.

In a research note, the Citi Rosa Research Analyst said in a research note that the merger of the railways across the main continents “is likely to prove a long time and take a long time, and risk distracting the administration for a year, while facing a large spread of organizers, politicians, employee unions, competitors, clients and other stakeholders.”

Union Pacific, based in Omaha, Nebraska, achieved $ 24.3 billion in last year as more than 30,000 employees delivered shipping across the western United States. Norfolk Souton has recorded $ 12.1 billion in revenue and has approximately 20,000 employees based in Atlanta.

Southern Norfolk’s shares gained 3.7 % during the day Thursday and rose by another 4.7 % to $ 282.50 in post -market trading after the magazine’s story.