Union Pacific aims for $85B Norfolk Southern merger

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is seeking to buy Norfolk Southern in a deal valued at $85 billion in a merger that could trigger the final wave of railroad mergers across the country.

The deal would create the first transcontinental railroad in the United States worth more than $200 billion, combining Union Pacific’s rail network in the West with Norfolk’s rails that snake across Eastern states.

The railroads said the tie-up would streamline deliveries of raw materials and goods across the country.

Any deal would be closely scrutinized by antitrust regulators that have set a very high bar for railroad deals after previous consolidation in the industry led to massive backups and snarled traffic.

But if the deal is approved, the two remaining major American railroads — BNSF and CSX — will