Building What Two Railroads Can’t

Author: Carl Garrison, Vice President – Network Planning and Operations, Union Pacific | October 12, 2026

Key Takeaways:

A unified network will unlock efficiencies that create room for growth. With a single transportation plan and coordinated operations across the combined system, the railroad can improve asset utilization, enhance network fluidity and optimize freight flows, creating additional capacity while delivering faster, more reliable service.
Strategic investments will expand capacity and improve service across the network. The combined railroad plans to invest an additional $2 billion during integration, funding projects such as double track, longer sidings, terminal expansions and technology enhancements that will increase network resiliency, fluidity and reliability.
A coast-to-coast network will enable smarter systemwide planning and growth. A unified railroad can invest where improvements create the greatest network-wide benefits, helping attract an estimated 2.1 million truckloads to rail while delivering the seamless, truck-competitive service needed to strengthen America’s supply chain.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern locomotives pull an intermodal train beside a river through a forested mountain landscape.

The proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern combination is built on a simple idea: better service creates growth, and growth requires capacity.

By joining two strong railroads with complementary networks, we’re creating something America doesn’t have today: seamless coast-to-coast rail service. This faster, more reliable and more efficient service will attract freight, converting an estimated 2.1 million truckloads to rail and increasing demand across the network.

Working with our Norfolk Southern counterparts, we’ve identified the operational, infrastructure and technology enhancements needed to support a transcontinental railroad and the growth it will generate.

Our application shows the combined network can accommodate anticipated traffic through the early phases of integration. As demand grows, we’ll create additional capacity through both operational improvements and targeted investments.

Operating as one railroad will allow us to build a transportation plan for the entire network, running trains at the right times, on the right routes and through the right gateways to make better use of existing infrastructure. We’ll improve terminal performance, increase train length and enhance locomotive and asset productivity, generating more capacity before adding new track, equipment or facilities.

Building Capacity for Growth

We plan to invest an additional $2 billion over the three-year integration period, on top of the $5.6 billion our companies already invest annually. These targeted investments will complement the efficiencies generated by a unified transportation plan, further expanding capacity, improving fluidity and strengthening service across the network.

We’ll target projects where they deliver the greatest benefit, including more double track, longer sidings and upgraded terminals to support future growth. These investments include expanding yards and terminals in 19 states and investing in technology, equipment availability and chassis supply to enhance safety, reliability and customer service.

On Union Pacific’s Sunset Route from Los Angeles to El Paso and Golden State Route from El Paso to Kansas City, we’ll add infrastructure that increases network resiliency and throughput. On Norfolk Southern, we’ll strengthen key corridors between Kansas City and northern Indiana and between New Orleans and Atlanta.

History shows that mergers can unlock investments that would be difficult to justify on separate networks. Since Union Pacific’s merger with Southern Pacific in 1996, we’ve invested more than $4 billion in the Houston industrial complex, expanding capacity, improving fluidity and strengthening one of the nation’s most important freight hubs. Those investments have improved freight flows across Union Pacific’s network, generating benefits far beyond the Gulf Coast.

Why a Unified Network Changes What’s Possible

A unified network allows us to direct capital where it delivers the greatest value across the system. Investments such as a siding in Kansas, additional capacity in Indiana or terminal improvements in New Orleans can improve freight flows across multiple corridors and create benefits thousands of miles away.

That’s the advantage of planning and investing as one railroad. With a single transportation plan, we can optimize traffic flows across the combined network rather than only within individual railroad networks. The result is a railroad that makes better use of its existing assets, invests where it creates the greatest network-wide benefit and delivers the seamless, truck-competitive service needed to grow rail’s role in America’s supply chain.

Next Read: Competition Is About Better Service, Not Railroad Size

Please review Union Pacific’s cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements.