CREATING THE US’ FIRST REAL TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern locomotives ©up-nstranscontinental
On 29 July 2025, the Union Pacific Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Corporation announced an agreement to create America’s first truly transcontinental railroad.
Under the terms of the agreement, Union Pacific will acquire Norfolk Southern in a stock and cash transaction. The value per share implies an enterprise value of $85bn for Norfolk Southern, resulting in the creation of a combined enterprise of over $250bn. It is expected to unlock approximately $2.75bn in annualised synergies, delivering substantial longterm value for Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern shareholders and positioning these railroads to continue acceleration of technological advancements for the promotion of greater freight competition.
Union Pacific locomotive 7454 pulls a freight train along a river corridor ©up-nstranscontinental
The deal will enable the seamless connection of more than 50,000 route miles across 43 states from the east to the west coast, linking in excess of 100 ports, transforming the US supply chain and unleashing the strength of the US manufacturing industry, at the same time creating new sources of economic growth, workforce opportunities and preservation of union jobs. The resultant increase in rail transportation will reduce transportation by trucks and the resultant deteriorating effect upon US highways, repairs for which are funded with taxpayer dollars.
This builds upon President Lincoln’s 165-year-old vision of a transcontinental railroad and is a win for the economy, customers and the people, said Jim Vena, Union Pacific chief executive officer. By opening new routes and expanding services to customers the Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad will unlock opportunities for faster, more reliable transit times and provide a more seamless customer experience.
A further development of rail in the USA has been the investment of the Brightline High Speed passenger services owned by the Fortress Investment Group, a global investment firm that acquired its parent company Florida East Coast Industries, which also develops real estate around its stations, with affiliates like Brightline Holdings also funding high-speed rail projects. At present it is the only company to privately fund and operate high-speed rail in the USA. The sole passenger service of this type presently operating in the USA is between Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Baton, Aventura and Orlando.
However, despite the fact that the service has yet to make an operating profit (a loss of $130m in 2014, accumulating to an overall loss of more than $500m), plans are already well advanced for Brightline to construct a passenger-only high speed rail service of 2hrs 10mins from Los Angeles (Rancho Cucamonga) to Las Vegas – completed in time for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. This will be the alternative to driving the 270-mile distance through mainly desert conditions for about 4.5 hours.
Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena and Norfolk Southern CEO Mark George at the signing event for the proposed network © up-nstranscontinental
A $3bn grant has recently been awarded to Brightline West and the Nevada Department of Transportation and signed by the Federal Railroad Administration. This award is on account of the federal money amounting to some $12bn previously announced by Joe Biden. The Brightline West project is privately financed and separate from the principally public financing of the Californian HSR project linking San Francisco with Los Angeles and beyond. Construction of Brightline West commenced in April 2024.
In 2008, the rule was passed by Congress that long-distance routes exceeding 750 miles qualified for full federal funding, while shorter routes of under 750 miles are state-supported, requiring states to share costs, making it harder for new short corridors to launch without state partnership.
Transportation of bulk and essential goods to benefit the US economy highlights five states that rely heavily upon an efficient rail system kept in good repair: Wyoming, Illinois, Texas, Minnesota and California. In particular, transport by road and air has its limitations in terms of cost, volume/weight and distance, relying heavily on fair weather and road conditions, such that high volume and weight of goods by rail wins hands down.
Considering the great distances of the USA, it is essential that an efficient rail system is developed and maintained, involving significant expenditure and maintenance of the system, which currently transports and will continue to transport at least 18% of total US production and materials.
This requires new track, existing track up-keep and significant expenditure on repairs, replacement, improvement and building of new rail bridges and tunnels. The following schedules indicate the extent to which rail transportation is essential for existing movement of materials and goods to maintenance and improvement of the US economy.
Freight movements by the five states that use the most rail transportation for supply and distribution: Wyoming, (273 million tons) principally coal via Powder River Basin; Illinois (126 million tons), Chicago is the busiest rail centre of the past 125 years, with 25% of all US freight passing through or ending up in the Chicago area; Texas (118 million tons), oil, gas and agricultural products; Minnesota (90 million tons), primarily agriculture – grain, corn and soy beans; California (64 million tons), diverse – agricultural to manufacturing.
Receiving most freight for rail transportation: Texas (208 million tons), major ports receiving goods from all over the world; Illinois (107 million tons), principally freight shipments from Canada and Mexico; California (95 million tons), from all over the world; Minnesota (70 million tons), home to many large businesses such as 3M and General Mills – would be more tonnage if it were not for the mighty Mississippi river; Georgia, Ohio and Washington combined (66 million tons). Each state has a significant agricultural sector. Florida is also worth mentioning for movement of building materials, aggregates, plastics and LP gas.
Overall, the following bulk commodities are initially transported by rail in the USA, some of which are subject to secondary/local/short distance distribution by truck; aggregate products, automobiles and parts, building materials, chemicals, construction debris, fertilisers, food products, LP gas, machinery, metals, paper, plastics, scrap and recycled materials.
The BNSF Railway and Union Pacific regularly operate intermodal container trains exceeding 5,000m (16,500ft) on main lines primarily in the western United States, often stretching to over 6,100m (20,000ft or 3.79 miles) and hauled by five locomotives with 280 well cars. ‘Monster’ trains can cause significant delays at crossings, albeit that such trains can significantly reduce transportation costs. Unfortunately, long and heavy trains put excessive stress on the tracks, decreasing longevity and increasing repair and maintenance costs.
It is relevant to note than the longest trains worldwide are the iron ore carriers in Australia, with a train up to the Guinness World Records length of 7.353 km (24,124ft/ 4.57 miles) consisting of eight diesel locomotives, which travelled the 171 miles from the company’s Newman and Yandi mines to Port Hedland, Western Australia. The then new train control system enabled the driver of the front engine to control the other seven engines. The engines involved were General Electric model AC6000 CW and the train weight was a record 99,732.1 metric tonnes running on an amazing 5.648 wheels.