UP–NS Transcontinental Merger. Docket Tracker

STB Finance Docket No. FD 36873 · A SteelWheels.Co Merger Desk Resource · Last reviewed —
The schedule is on the record

Decision No. 30 (served 18 AUG 2026) removed both proceedings from abeyance, environmental review included, and adopted a procedural schedule. It directed the applicants to resubmit certain workpapers with unfiltered data by 28 AUG 2026, and it denied their request for an expedited proceeding on the proposed TRRA divestiture. Other outstanding motions were left for a later decision.

On that schedule, comments, protests, requests for conditions, and responsive applications are due 18 NOV 2026. Responses, rebuttal in support of the revised application, and responses to responsive applications are due 16 FEB 2027. Rebuttals in support of responsive applications are due 29 MAR 2027. Final briefs are due 28 MAY 2027. The public hearing and the close of the record are left to a later decision. Decision No. 35 (served 31 AUG 2026) moved notices of intent to participate to 30 SEP 2026 and left the other Decision No. 30 dates in place. Decision No. 37 (served 18 SEP 2026) denied the motions for summary denial. It reaches no conclusion on the merits, and it leaves the 18 NOV 2026 comment date in place.

49 U.S.C. § 11325(b)(3) still requires the Board to conclude evidentiary proceedings within one year of the 29 MAY 2026 notice (91 FR 32171), and to issue a final decision within 90 days after the record closes. Decision No. 30, footnote 16, states the intent to issue the final decision inside that period. The same footnote states that if the environmental review cannot be finished in time, the final decision will issue as soon as possible after that review is complete. The close of the record is not dated.

Reading the service numbers everyone's about to quote at the Board? See the Merger Desk's live six-road dwell-vs-speed view → steelwheels.co/railservice.

Docket timeline, newest first

Primary Sources & Filing Links

SourceWhat it is
STB UP–NS Merger ResourcesThe Board's consolidated docket resource page. Check this first.
Decision No. 43 (23 OCT 2026)ALJ rules on the SWARS recording, Berkshire subpoenas, and two deposition motions. The SWARS recording is redesignated public. Berkshire subpoenas are held in abeyance. Iowa Interstate and Metra may recall Katherine Novak in part. CN's motion to withdraw a request for relief is granted.
Decision No. 42 (16 OCT 2026)ALJ grants CPKC's motion for subpoenas to John Orr and Lance Fritz.
Decision No. 41 (08 OCT 2026)ALJ rules on three discovery motions. The applicants' motion to compel is granted in part and denied in part. In camera review is granted. The challenge to Norfolk Southern's work-product claim is denied.
Decision No. 40 (06 OCT 2026)Late-filed descriptions of anticipated responsive applications accepted: CSS, GBNY, IAIS, and CRC
Decision No. 37 (18 SEP 2026)Motions for summary denial denied. No conclusion on the merits.
Decision No. 35 (31 AUG 2026)Notices of intent to participate extended to 30 SEP 2026. Other Decision No. 30 dates unchanged.
Decision No. 30 (18 AUG 2026)Abeyance lifted, procedural schedule adopted, unfiltered workpapers ordered, TRRA expedited proceeding denied
ALJ Decision No. 25 (08 JUL 2026)Custodians and production deadlines, 34 added, 66 ordered in total; the applicants' cap denied
Decision No. 21 (28 MAY 2026)Acceptance, abeyance, the nine supplemental issues, and a full EIS
Decision No. 13 (18 MAR 2026)The HSR-style ordinary-course document order, entered on the Board's own motion
Decision No. 9 (16 JAN 2026)The rejection for incompleteness, and the Schedule 5.8 privilege fight
91 FR 32171 (29 MAY 2026)The acceptance notice, the date the statutory clock runs from
49 U.S.C. § 11325The one-year evidentiary clock and the 90-day decision deadline
49 CFR § 1180.1The 2001 major-merger rules, the affirmative “enhance competition” standard, applied here for the first time
Applicants' STB Filing HubParty filings, applicant-curated. Note: the “Explore the Filing” button serves the December PDFs; the amended volumes sit at different URLs. Verify against the Board's own docket.
STB Rail Service Data (EP 724)Weekly Class I service metrics under 49 CFR Part 1250: terminal dwell, train speed, cars online. The Board's page identifies that weekly set as EP 724.

Related Dockets · Precedent Watch

Separate STB proceedings the Merger Desk tracks for precedent value, how the Board reads and enforces railroad-merger conditions elsewhere. These are not part of the FD 36873 docket above; the Board has drawn no connection between them and UP–NS. Any relevance noted here is SteelWheels.Co's analysis, labeled as such.

FD 32760 · Sub-48 & Sub-49 UP–SP 1996 merger oversight, related, not FD 36873
Served 21 JUL 2026 · Surface Transportation Board · Entire Board

The recordThe Board denied two petitions by BNSF Railway to serve shipper facilities under the access conditions from the 1996 Union Pacific / Southern Pacific merger. Decision 53046 (Sub-48) denied BNSF's amended petition for enforcement as to Granite Mountain Quarries; Decision 53058 (Sub-49) denied BNSF's petition for clarification as to Colorado Materials. Both are rulings on BNSF's amended petitions.

SteelWheels.Co read , analysis, not a Board findingThirty years on, the access conditions from a 1996 merger are still being litigated facility by facility. For FD 36873, where access for 2-to-1 and 3-to-2 shippers sits among the nine issues the Board has ordered supplemented, these denials are a working illustration of both the durability of a merger access-condition and its limits: the protection can endure for decades, yet reach only as far as the original deal drew the line. Read it as context for the access remedies now being sought, not as a signal of how the Board will decide UP–NS.

Primary record: Decision 53046. Sub-48, Granite Mountain Quarries · Decision 53058. Sub-49, Colorado Materials · STB Finance Docket No. 32760.

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Every date and figure on this page is verified to the primary record, the Board's own decisions and the parties' filings, on FD 36873 and on the related dockets noted above. Trade reporting is used as a pointer, never as a source. This tracker is an independent editorial resource and is not affiliated with the Surface Transportation Board or with any party to the proceeding. Countdowns compute from your device's date. Procedural dates are taken from Decision No. 30 (served 18 AUG 2026), as modified by Decision No. 35 (served 31 AUG 2026). The 29 MAY 2027 date is what 49 U.S.C. § 11325(b)(3) provides, measured from the 29 MAY 2026 Federal Register notice. Decision No. 30 does not set that day as the close of the record.