Federal regulators on Thursday accepted the merger application submitted by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, on the condition that the railroads submit more information for review by July 27.
Much of that information concerns the environmental impact of the merger.
Shares of the companies were down about 5% on the news.
The STB’s 42-page decision (PDF) comes after UP (NYSE: UNP) and NS (NYSE: NSC) in April filed a revised application following the agency’s rejection of the initial paperwork in January.
The companies say the proposed transcontinental railroad will speed up the movement of freight by eliminating handoffs between railroads, convert 2.1 million truckloads to rail annually, and kickstart reindustrialization across a 53,000-mile network.
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Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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