A Union Pacific freight train heads east Thursday in Geneva. Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads are seeking a merger. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

Here we go again. For the second time in recent years, two railroad titans are contemplating a marriage that could shake the freight landscape nationally and locally.

Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway informed the U.S. Surface Transportation Board in late July they want to merge, pending approval.

The two are among the biggest freight carriers in the U.S. — UP owns over 32,000 miles of track in the central and western U.S.; Norfolk Southern stretches from the Midwest to the East Coast on 19,000 miles of track.

They converge in Chicago, the nation’s busiest rail hub.

The issue “requires a fundamental consider

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