Warren Buffett derails BNSF Railway merger speculations

SPRINGFIELD, MO –  The main rail company serving southwest Missouri says it’s not entertaining the possibility of merging with another railroad.

In recent weeks, industry analysts predicted that BNSF Railway would seek to purchase CSX Transportation to create a new coast-to-coast rail carrier.  The speculation was the result of BNSF’s main competitor, Union Pacific Railroad, announcing an $85-billion deal earlier this month to purchase Norfolk Southern Corporation, which is CSX’s main rival.

Earlier this month, Ozarks First reached out to Fort Worth-based BNSF for details about merger possibilities. A spokesperson simply replied, “No comment at this time.”

Historically, in the U.S., when two larger rail companies merge, it has triggered a chain reaction of other rail companies combining to remain competitive.  Thus, the UP-NS proposal led industry experts to believe a BNSF and CSX combination was inevitable.  The idea gained even more traction last Friday when BNSF and CSX announced they were teaming up to provide services between several cities in the west on BNSF’s network, with some locations in the east located on the CSX system.

However, on Monday, BNSF Railway owner Warren Buffett appeared on CNBC and confirmed his company was not in the market to buy another rail carrier. Instead, he explained his carrier would work closely with CSX as a partner to improve coast-to-coast rail service. According to the report, Buffett said he believed the two companies could work together to obtain some of the benefits of a merger without combining their systems.

The announcement is the latest development being watched by hundreds of rail employees across the Ozarks.  BNSF Railway, which maintains a hub operation in Springfield, employs nearly 1,000 people in the region.  Mergers in previous decades, including that of Frisco and Burlington Northern in 1980, and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe in 1996, resulted in drastic changes to rail operations and employment numbers in southwest Missouri.

If approved by federal regulators, the combined Union-Pacific-Norfolk Southern system would become the nation’s largest rail network.  It would also result in the creation of the first transcontinental railroad system in the U.S.  Both companies serve Kansas City and Saint Louis and have a major presence in central and northern Missouri.

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