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STB

National Mediation Board member Deirdre Hamilton. (NMB Photograph)

NMB’s Hamilton Challenges Termination

National Mediation Board (NMB) member and Democrat Deirdre Hamilton has sued to regain her post following her Oct. 14, 2025, firing by POTUS 47—one of many legally questionable independent federal…
A map of Green Eagle Railroad LLC’s proposed 1.335-mile common carrier rail line in Maverick County, Tex., extending from the southern border of the United States and connecting to Union Pacific (UP) at approximately milepost 31 on the Eagle Pass Subdivision. The line is part of parent company PVH’s proposed trade corridor for freight and commercial motor vehicles extending into Mexico. (GER Map)

STB Seeks More Details on Proposed Maverick County, Tex., Line

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Jan. 30 directed Green Eagle Railroad (GER) to provide more information on its proposed construction and operation of a 1.335-mile, double-tracked common carrier rail…

STB Rejects UP-NS Merger Application as ‘Incomplete‘

January 16, 2026: In a decision predicted by Railway Age (“Why Not a Merger Timeout?,” Watching Washington, November 2025 issue), the Surface Transportation Board in a unanimous decision rejected, “without…

CN on UP+NS: ‘Show Us Schedule 5.8′ (UPDATED with BNSF, CSX and CPKC Filings)

CN on Jan. 8 filed a motion with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) “to compel additional information in relation to the proposed merger agreement between Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk…
Commentary

Second Try for Kloster to STB

Republican Richard Kloster, whose nomination to an open seat on the Surface Transportation Board (STB) failed to exit the Senate Commerce Committee during the first session of the 119th Congress,…
Commentary

Easter Eggs Are Dropping. Will They Break?

FINANCIAL EDGE, RAILWAY AGE JANUARY 2026 ISSUE: All industries have “drops.” In the world of the sneaker-head it is the release of the latest Air Jordan basketball shoe. For movies…
(Courtesy of UP)

UP+NS Merger Application ‘Complete’? (UPDATED 1/8)

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) “should reject the efforts of a few parties … to delay and prolong this proceeding by claiming the [recently filed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern] Application [seeking…
Tom G. Williams (Courtesy of BNSF)
Commentary

UP-NS Merger Application Filed: What it Means for BNSF Customers

Dear Customers: As I shared, Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) filed their merger application with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as we headed into…

BNSF, CN, CPKC, CSX, NGFA: UP+NS Merger Application ‘Incomplete’

All four Class I railroads—BNSF, CN, CPKC, CSX—that will remain independent, at least in the short term, if the Surface Transportation Board approves the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, have given…
Commentary

Former Rail Executive: UP-NS Deal Likely to Get Done & Other Views

We hosted a former Class I CEO to review the recent Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application. He sees a very strong filing with acceptance likely though not until 2027. The…
Commentary

UP, NS Deliver 6,700-Page ‘Christmas Present’

’Twas one week before Christmas, and all through the land, rail stakeholders were stirring, as Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern dealt their merger hand.
STB Vice Chairman Michelle Schultz. (Courtesy of U.S. Government)

STB’s Schultz Confirmed; Kloster Not (UPDATED 12/19)

The Senate Dec. 18 voted 53-43, along party lines, to confirm STB member Michelle A. Schultz to a second two-year term on the five-member agency.
William A. Mullins
Commentary

UP-NS: Already, a Two-Words Debate

The level of granularity in evaluating thousands of pages of a merger application prompted William H. Tucker, when a member of Surface Transportation Board (STB) predecessor Interstate Commerce Commission in…
(From STB Filing)

House Dems to STB: Consider ‘Tangible,’ ‘Intangible’ Impacts of UP+NS

Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Troy Carter (D-La.), and Cleo Fields (D-La.) are asking the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to not only consider the “tangible impact the [proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern]…
(Courtesy of the STB)

Nominations Open for RSTAC

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is seeking nominations to fill vacancies on its Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (RSTAC). The deadline is Jan. 12, 2026; candidates may nominate themselves.
Commentary

Primum Non Nocere

FROM THE EDITOR, RAILWAY AGE DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE: When I started freshman year at Essex Catholic High School, Newark, N.J.,  in September 1973, Latin had been dropped as a requirement. Though…
Commentary

Is a UP-NS ‘Fix’ In? Don’t Bet on It!

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE: Union Pacific (UP) CEO Jim Vena’s September pilgrimage to the Oval Office—where Republican POTUS 47 picked his corporate pocket for a cash contribution…
Robert E. Primus (Screen Grab from Government Hearing)
Commentary

Primus, Late of STB, Alleges Racial Bias

Democrat Robert E. Primus, fired Aug. 27 from the Surface Transportation Board (STB) by Republican POTUS 47, alleges in an amended legal challenge filed in federal district court Dec. 4…
Commentary

UP+NS: STB Application Now Mid-December; 4Q25 Earnings Tempered

Union Pacific updated investors Dec. 2 that its Surface Transportation Board filing to acquire Norfolk Southern will be pushed out two weeks due to “additional analysis from a contractor.” UP…
P&W is entering into a 20-year agreement with the State of Connecticut to operate the Middletown Cluster. (Courtesy of OpenRailwaymap.org)

P&W, State of Connecticut Update Middletown Cluster Operating Agreement

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Nov. 28 provided notice that Genesee & Wyoming’s Providence & Worcester Railroad Company (P&W) will operate the 16.84-mile Middletown Cluster railroad under a new…
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