Comment / The STB decision keeps the UP-NS mega-merger alive, but barely breathing

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In a nutshell: The Board’s unanimous decision clears a procedural hurdle but demands answers on nine critical fronts, from 2-to-1 shipper access to downstream consolidation. For shippers, the real fight is just beginning.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) yesterday did something that manages to be both a milestone and an anticlimax. In a unanimous decision, the regulator accepted Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern’s (NS) revised application to create America’s first transcontinental railroad, and then immediately placed the entire ...