HELENA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined attorneys general from five other states this week in urging a federal regulatory board to reject the merger application between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern as incomplete, arguing that the proposal as filed lacks critical information needed to assess its impact on competition and consumers.
In a letter dated May 22 and addressed to the Surface Transportation Board, Knudsen and his counterparts from Iowa, Kansas, Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota asked the board to withhold a completeness finding — which would trigger full merits review — until the two railroads provide additional information on market share projections, downstream consolidation risks, and control of jointly owned industry assets.
The proposed merger would combine two of the nation’s largest freight railroads. Union Pacific, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, operates primarily in the western United States, while Norfolk Southern, based in Atlanta, serves the eastern half of the country. A combined entity would span the continent, creating what critics have described as a transcontinental railroad of unprecedented scale. The attorneys general noted that the applicants’ own projections show the merged company would control approximately 50 percent of all U.S. Class I freight rail traffic, with even higher market share concentrations in specific commodities and shipping corridors…