INSIGHTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) have advised the Surface Transportation Board (STB) that they intend to submit a revised merger application in the pending control proceeding on April 30, 2026. The announcement came in a February 17, 2026, letter filed jointly by the two railroads in Docket No. FD 36873. The filing was made in response to the Board's January 16, 2026, decision in which the Board directed the applicants to clarify elements of their original submi

On January 16, 2026, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) rejected Union Pacific's (UP) application to acquire control of Norfolk Southern (NS), along with two related applications: UP and NS' (Applicants) applications for acquisitions of control of the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway Company (PPU) and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA). The STB ruled the application was incomplete and rejected the application without prejudice, allowing the Applicants to

On January 6, 2026, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in Docket No. EP 788, proposing to repeal 49 C.F.R. Part 1144, the regulatory framework for reciprocal switching agreements, through routes, and through rates. Adopted in 1985, Part 1144 was intended to guide when and how the STB could prescribe competitive access remedies. However, the Board notes the current approach, which requires a showing of anticompetitive conduct t

On November 4, 2025, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and BNSF Railway Company announced a landmark settlement, bringing an end to over a decade of high-stakes federal litigation. This resolution addressed a long-running trespass dispute centered on BNSF’s unauthorized operation of crude oil trains across the Swinomish Reservation in Washington. The settlement followed a significant 2024 federal court ruling which ordered BNSF to disgorge nearly $395 million in profits a

We’re excited to announce the new location of our headquarters: 901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 1120, Arlington, VA 22203 Along with the...

On July 29, 2025, Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) announced plans for an $85 billion merger, in which UP would acquire NS....

L.E. Peabody & Associates, Inc. is pleased to have joined Thompson Hine in a webinar in which we discussed the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Three-Benchmark (3BM) rate-case approach.   Click the link below to view the webinar:   https://www.thompsonhine.com/insights/the-forgotten-rail-rate-case-option-a-fresh-look-at-three-benchmark-cases/   Below is more information on the 3BM approach. The STB's 3BM rate-case approach serves as a crucial tool for assessing the reason

On January 15, 2025, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a decision in a case brought by the North America Freight Car Association (NAFCA) and other complainants against the Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP).   NAFCA and its fellow complainants claimed UP violated its car service and common carrier obligations by unfairly charging for the movement of empty, privately owned tank cars to repair facilities. Additionally, NAFCA claimed UP failed to compensate them for

According to S&P Global, utilities will only be retiring 3.0 GW of U.S. coal-fired capacity in 2024, which will be the lowest level since...

On November 26, 2024, Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Robert Primus sent a letter to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) expressing concern over recent problems with the AAR’s rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF) filings. Over the past two years, the AAR has refiled four quarterly RCAF filings due to errors.   Chairman Primus emphasized that the frequency of errors in these filings is unacceptable and undermines confidence in the RCAF’s accuracy, and has ask

On October 22, 2024, a significant milestone was reached for the Gulf Coast region with the groundbreaking ceremony for the Amtrak Gulf...

In an update to the recent Canadian rail stoppage, Canadian National (CN) has been ordered to binding arbitration by the Canada...

Union employees of Canada’s two largest railroads, Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), were formally locked...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently vacated the Surface Transportation Board's (STB) Final Offer Rate Review (FORR) in Union Pacific Railroad v. Surface Transportation Board (No. 22-3648) and Association of American Railroads v. Surface Transportation Board (No. 23-1325) . The FORR, a regulation designed to address rate increases proposed by railroads, has been a subject of intense debate within the transportation industry. The FORR established a process

Over the past 10 years, rail freight carloads have seen no growth, but in fact have dropped over 23 percent . Over the same time period,...

L. E. Peabody & Associates, Inc. (LEPA) was retained in September of 2020 to support the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (Tribe) in a federal lawsuit against the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) regarding BNSF’s trespass over Tribe land. In a preliminary stage of this case, LEPA assisted the Tribe in estimating BNSF’s profits from the railroad’s trespass over the Tribe’s property based upon a limited scope of information available. In a March 2023 decision, the Court ruled that