Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway’s fight against $85B merger: Are jobs on the line?
BNSF Railway, which employs nearly 3,000 people at its Fort Worth headquarters, is lobbying against a colossal merger proposal by two competitors that would reshape the nation’s freight rail network and potentially impact the industries that rely on it.
In July, Union Pacific announced its intention to acquire the Norfolk Southern for $85 billion. The merger would create the first truly transcontinental railroad in the U.S. and a streamlined path for shipping companies to send goods across the nation. Union Pacific’s network is mostly west of the Mississippi River, while Norfolk Southern operates on the East Coast.
Leaders in the industry believe that this would be one of the most significant mergers of railroad companies since at least the 1990s, when Union Pacific combined with Southern Pacific and BNSF was formed after Burlington Northern and Santa Fe merged.
If approved, the new combined company would control 45% of all freight tonnage in the U.S.
The acquisition is nowhere close to complete. The Surface Transportation Board, a federal agency that regulates freight rail, must review the application, which hasn’t been submitted yet.
President Trump has expressed support for the merger and over the summer dismissed a Democratic member of the five-person Surface Transportation Board, which critics say demonstrates his intention to get the merger approved.
Union Pacific has said the merger would make it significantly more efficient — and cheaper — for shipping companies to move their goods.
BNSF, which is the nation’s largest railroad company, begs to differ.
In November, the Berkshire Hathaway-owned company filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board, asking for a more scrutinized review of the application and claiming that Union Pacific has repeatedly ignored measures to boost competition and prevent monopolies in the railroad industry.
BNSF has been headquartered in Fort Worth since the 1980s and operates a massive high-tech intermodal facility in Alliance. The company employs about 2,800 people here. Union Pacific operates a huge railyard just southwest of downtown along the Trinity River.
Zak Andersen, BNSF’s chief of staff and vice president of communications, told the Star-Telegram that the company was hesitant to speculate about the merger’s impact on jobs at BNSF. He did, though, emphasize that the merger could impact jobs at Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.
“I don’t think I could give you an impact on the worker today,” Andersen said. “I think we have to see this process play out more before I can really speak to that side.”
But BNSF will say that its leadership believes the merger would threaten the company’s business.
“If you’re shipping something from Fort Worth Texas, and you’re trying to get to North Carolina, you can choose (Norfolk Southern) or CSX, or you can make a choice in Fort Worth — do you want to use (Union Pacific) or BNSF?” Andersen said. “This essentially takes away two of those options.”
If the merger is approved, it would prevent shipping companies from having choices over which railroad to use, creating what some in the industry call “captive shippers.” Even though BNSF’s service would remain unchanged, the company is arguing that shippers would have no choice but to use Union Pacific because of efficiency and speed.
“There are no customers asking for this,” Andersen said. “This is driven purely by Wall Street looking for a quick shareholder payout.”
The loss of competition among transportation companies could risk America’s competitive advantage in the global supply chain, according to Scott Jensen, a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council trade association, which has raised questions about the merger.
“Those competitive advantages over other places in the world can be fragile, and if you have your transportation costs start to go up, or you have greater difficulty to moving chemistry, then we’re not as competitive against the rest of the world as we can be and should be,” Jensen said.
It’s not just BNSF protesting the merger. On Nov. 17, more than 50 state lawmakers and members of Congress — including U.S. Rep. Charlie Geren of Tarrant County and two others from Texas — sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board further asking for heavy scrutiny of the proposal.
“Many shippers would face limited or no viable rail alternatives at origin or destination, creating a new generation of captive customers,” the letter reads.
A New York Times story in July cited rumors that BNSF could also attempt a merger with CSX — the companies already have a strong partnership — but Andersen denied such a move.
“We’re owned by Berkshire Hathaway, and so our ownership has made clear that we are not interested in acquiring another company,” he said.
What comes next?
The merger application was originally going to be filed around Dec. 16, but the outlet Railway Supply reported that a chief executive from Union Pacific told investors that the company needs more time.
A spokesperson for Norfolk Southern could not be reached on Friday.
“A transcontinental railroad will transform the nation’s supply chain and deliver faster, more reliable and efficient service to our customers,” a spokesperson for Union Pacific told the Star-Telegram in a statement.
This story was originally published December 9, 2025 at 4:55 AM.
