Norfolk Southern reports Q2 2025 earnings with $3.1B revenue, 62.2% operating ratio, and confirms historic $85B merger talks with Union Pacific to create transcontinental railroad.

When Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced their merger deal Tuesday to form “America’s first transcontinental railroad,” it puzzled some who recalled the golden spike driven in 1869 at Utah’s Promontory Summit. That last spike only connected two railroads from Omaha, Neb., to Sacramento, Calif.

The largest rail union in the United States said on Tuesday it intends to oppose Union Pacific's proposed $85 billion acquisition of smaller rival Norfolk Southern in regulatory proceedings, citing concerns about how the largest-ever buyout in the sector will affect U.