Here’s an interesting development in the ongoing Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger proceeding. As David Lassen reports in Trains, ONE Transit, the public transit agency serving Oklahoma City and the surrounding area, wants the Surface Transportation Board to reject the proposed merger or, failing that, impose a fairly extensive set of conditions to protect passenger rail and local communities.
That makes ONE Transit something of an outlier so far.
Most of the passenger rail agencies with an interest in the proceeding have been much more tight-lipped. Metrolink, Metro-North, MBTA, Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and even Chicago’s Metra have filed notices allowing them to participate in the proceeding without taking a position. Amtrak has been similarly quiet.
NJ Transit has gone somewhat further, warning that increased freight traffic could negatively affect commuter operations on seven lines where Norfolk Southern operates. But even NJ Transit explicitly said it wasn’t taking a position on whether the merger application should be accepted or rejected.
ONE Transit did.
Its filing argues that the benefits claimed by UP and NS remain speculative while the risks to communities and passenger operators are concrete. Among other things, the agency wants an Oklahoma-specific transit and commuter rail impact study, projections of train counts, train lengths and blocked crossings, and analysis of effects on bus and paratransit routes, pedestrians and school access.
Image: ONE Transit Commuter Rail Plan
I think that’s particularly interesting because ONE Transit is developing plans for commuter rail in Central Oklahoma. So, the agency isn’t looking only at how a merger might affect passenger trains running today. It’s asking what a much larger freight railroad could mean for passenger service that doesn’t exist yet.
And as all of you know, THAT’S a question we’ve been asking ourselves throughout this proceeding.
There’s still a very long way to go in the STB’s consideration of this transaction, and most passenger agencies apparently aren’t ready to show their cards. Neither are we, but we know that what we’re seeing so far does little to nothing for passenger rail either now or in the future. We’ve raised some very serious questions about the merger that are a lot like ONE Transit’s, but we’re continuing to evaluate the Applicants’ answers and the evidence as it develops.
Still, it’s worth noting when one of the public agencies responsible for building and operating passenger transportation decides that its concerns are serious enough to move beyond questions and reservations and take a position.
ONE Transit just did.
The irony is that until the 1950s there was extensive commuter rail in central Oklahoma via the Oklahoma Railroad, which served Norman, El Reno, and (I think) Shawnee. We're (happily) going around in circles.