Tell the STB: Block the $72 Billion Railroad Megamerger

The railroad barons are back — and they’re trying to take over America’s rails.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are preparing a $72 billion merger that would create the biggest freight railroad in U.S. history. If approved, just three corporations would control nearly every major rail route in the country. That’s a terrifying lack of competition that could make prices rise for all of us.

But before it happens, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has the power to stop it. Instead of rubber-stamping a near monopoly that puts profit over people, we need the board to protect competition and public safety.

Tell the Surface Transportation Board: “Block the $72 billion Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern megamerger. Keep America’s railways safe, fair, and competitive.”

Rail workers, shippers, and competitors are sounding the alarm. 

The American Economic Liberties Project said the merger would create “a national duopoly — a scale of consolidation not even met by the railroad barons of the Gilded Age.” And rival carrier BNSF told the Wall Street Journal it would jeopardize competition and restrict fair access for shippers.

We’ve seen this movie before. Past rail mergers have meant layoffs, service cuts, longer and more dangerous trains — and higher costs for everyone else. Wall Street wins, while workers and communities lose.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are expected to file their merger application soon. Once they do, corporate lobbyists will flood Washington. The time to act is now.

Sign the petition to demand the Surface Transportation Board choose people over railroad baron profits. Tell them to block the megamerger now.

The petition to the Surface Transportation Board reads: “Block the $72 billion Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern megamerger. Keep America’s railways safe, fair, and competitive.”