Group forms to oppose Union Pacific buyout of Norfolk Southern

The “Stop the Rail Merger Coalition” launched today to oppose Union Pacific’s (UNP) buyout of Norfolk Southern (NSC). The group includes the American Chemistry Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation, Teamsters Rail Conference, BNSF Railway, CPKC Railway, Alliance for Chemical Distribution, National Industrial Transportation League, and Vinyl Institute. The Teamsters Rail Conference makes up the majority of the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s unionized workforce. “If allowed to move forward, the deal would create the largest consolidated railroad in U.S. history and give a single entity control over almost half of the nation’s rail traffic,” the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition said in a statement.