September 8, 2026 | News, NS, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
More opposition to the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger emerged recently, with additional rail unions joining the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition. The Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM) and IAM District 19, both part of the IAM Rail Division, announced...
September 4, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are circulating a signed letter urging the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) to consider the consequences of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Rail merger for workers. Representative Val Hoyle (D-OR) led the...
August 29, 2026 | News, NS, UP, UP-NS Merger
On August 24, the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition wrote a letter to President Trump outlining why it opposes the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. The letter warns that the merger would reduce railroad competition, raise costs for American farmers,...
August 26, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
The railroad industry, including rail labor, likes to throw around a lot of letters. There’s an “alphabet soup” of acronyms that frequently appear in industry and union news sites and publications, including this one — for example, AAR, ARU, BLET, CSXT, DOT, FRA, and...
August 25, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Last week, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) adopted a procedural schedule and timeline for consideration of the UP-NS merger application, but ordered the railroads to turn over “substantial” additional data by August 28. Importantly, STB said that release of the...
August 24, 2026 | News, NS, STB, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
The BLET last week led a coalition of rail labor unions in urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to immediately terminate the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application before a full review can begin. In an August 19 joint filing, BLET and the...
August 4, 2026 | News, Top News, UP-NS Merger
BLET National President Mark Wallace and First Vice President Gary Best met with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) as part of their series of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill. Wallace and Best went to Capitol Hill in late July to advocate on behalf of BLET members and...
August 3, 2026 | News, NS, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
Here we go — again. This week, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern filed a third round of merger application materials with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in their attempt to merge the two Class I railroads. Back in May, the two railroads were ordered by STB to...
July 31, 2026 | FRA, Headlines, Mexico
(Source: Associated Press, July 31, 2021) The Trump administration wants to make sure that the Mexican train crews who haul freight over the border can understand key safety safety information in English and that the common practice of using foreign crews to cross...
July 28, 2026 | News, NS, Top News, UP, UP-NS Merger
More Paperwork Cannot Fix a Merger That Would Raise Costs, Cut Competition and Put America’s Supply Chain at Risk WASHINGTON, D.C. — Stop the Rail Merger Coalition responded to Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern’s (NS) submission of supplemental information filed...
