The golden spike 2.0: Union Pacific bets $85B to finish what it started in 1869May 10, 2026
[Old West]
tness74/iStock via Getty Images
Today is a historic date in the history of the railroad industry. On the morning of May 10, 1869, a crowd gathered at a desolate stretch of Utah Territory called Promontory Summit. Two locomotives faced each other on a single track, separated by one final rail. Workers from the Central Pacific and Union Pacific (UNP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UNP]) railroads witnessed a ceremonial golden spike connect the two tracks to create a transcontinental railroad. The occasion was marked by church bells ringing in San Francisco and cannons being fired in New York City.
[UNP]
Union Pacific
The transcontinental railroad shortened weeks of dangerous wagon travel into days of much easier passage and helped to open the American West to settlement and commerce. Over the generations that followed, the American freight rail system evolved into a patchwork of regional carriers divided largely between East and West. For the last 100 years, shipments crossing the country still required handoffs between competing railroads, adding time, cost, and complication.
Exactly 157 years since the golden spike connected the continent, the same Union Pacific brand exists after a series of mergers and bankruptcies that included a corporate lineage of Union Pacific Rail Road (1862–1880), the Union Pacific Railway (1880–1897), the Union Pacific Railroad Mark I (1897–1998), and the Union Pacific Railroad Mark II (1969–present).
Today, Union Pacific (UNP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UNP]) and Norfolk Southern (NSC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NSC]) want to create America's first true transcontinental railroad being run by a single company. By combining Union Pacific's expansive western network with Norfolk Southern's deep reach into eastern manufacturing and population centers, the two companies would stitch together over 50K route miles across 43 states. If regulators approve the deal, the single-line freight service will run coast to coast, with no handoffs, a development that would disrupt the rails and trucking industries.
TRUCKING STOCKS: Knight-Swift Transportation (KNX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/KNX]), USA Truck (USAK), Marten Transport (MRTN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MRTN]), ArcBest (ARCB [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ARCB]), Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ODFL]), Werner Enterprises (WERN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/WERN]), TFI International (TFII [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/TFII]), Landstar System (LSTR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LSTR]), Schneider National (SNDR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SNDR]), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/JBHT]), and Heartland Express (HTLD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/HTLD]).
RAILS STOCKS: Union Pacific (UNP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/UNP]), Norfolk Southern (NSC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NSC]), CSX (CSX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CSX]), Canadian National Railway (CNI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CNI]), and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CP]). BNSF Railway is owned by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BRK.A]) (BRK.B [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BRK.B]).
MORE ON UNION PACIFIC AND NORFOLK SOUTHERN
* Union Pacific: This High-Quality Railroad Stock Is A Long-Term Play [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4895639-union-pacific-high-quality-railroad-stock-long-term-play]
* Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4893982-norfolk-southern-corporation-nsc-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript]
* Norfolk Southern: Watch It, But Union Pacific Is The Better Trade In The Deal Now (Earnings Review) [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4894011-norfolk-southern-watch-it-but-union-pacific-is-better-trade-in-deal-now-earnings-review]
* Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern say a transcontinental rail deal would cut trucks on the road [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4582737-union-pacific-norfolk-southern-say-transcontinental-rail-deal-would-cut-trucks-on-the-road]
* Rails rivals, unions unite to block the Norfolk Southern-Union Pacific merger [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4581940-rails-rivals-unions-unite-to-block-the-norfolk-southern-union-pacific-merger]
CPKC, CSX upgrade Southeast Mexico Express with dedicated train, faster transit timesMay 6, 2026
Direct connection links U.S Southeast to Texas and Mexico markets
CALGARY, AB and JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 6, 2026 /CNW/ - Canadian Pacific Kansas City (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) (CPKC) and CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX) (CSX) today announced upgrades to the Southeast Mexico Express (SMX) premium service featuring faster transit times with more origin and destination options for customers looking to reach new markets.SMX in Salinas Victoria, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (CNW Group/CPKC)
The new SMX premium service schedule and routing options launched May 4, 2026, offer industry-best, truck-competitive transit times between southeastern markets such as Atlanta, Charlotte or central Florida, and markets in Texas and Mexico, including Dallas and Monterrey. The service improvements have reduced transit times for every previously available SMX option. These reductions range from approximately one-day-faster service between Atlanta and Dallas, and approximately 2.5 days faster between Atlanta and central Mexico. SMX improvements are the result of capital investments in track, bridges and signal infrastructure on the former Meridian & Bigbee Railroad (MNBR) and continued investments across the corridor in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas offering greater speeds and more efficiency.
"These service upgrades, providing approximately 20 to 45 percent improvement to SMX transit times, reflect our ongoing commitment to providing more best-in-class, flexible transportation solutions to our customers looking for innovative ways to reach new markets," said Keith Creel, CPKC President & CEO. "Together with CSX, the SMX offers a level of speed, flexibility and dependability that reaches additional growing markets in the U.S. Southeast. This is a premium rail solution that cannot be replicated because we have the best route linking shippers to Texas and to Mexico that will move more trucks to rail."
"The upgraded SMX service demonstrates the long‑term investments CSX has made to strengthen this corridor and provide more consistent, reliable service for our customers," said Steve Angel, president and CEO of CSX. "By working closely with CPKC, we're expanding access and delivering meaningful improvements for shippers moving freight between the key markets of the Southeast U.S. and Mexico."
The new SMX dedicated train service provides two-day service between Atlanta and Dallas, with three-day service from Monterrey and four-day service from central Mexico to Atlanta. Customers can extend their reach with new SMX origins and destinations in Charlotte, Jacksonville and Central Florida.
Story Continues
CSX and CPKC debuted the SMX in December 2024 creating rail transportation routing options with available capacity along this east-west corridor for customers looking to reach Texas and Mexico from the U.S. Southeast. The connection came out of the two Class I's respective acquisitions of portions of the former MNBR. As a result, CPKC and CSX established a direct Class I-to-Class I interchange near Myrtlewood, Alabama.
Schneider National, Inc. (NYSE:SNDR), a premier multimodal provider of transportation, intermodal and logistic services, has already experienced the SMX advantage and looks forward to building on its earlier success in the corridor.
"Schneider has seen firsthand the value of continued collaboration with our railroad partners in bringing new, innovative intermodal products to market," said Schneider President and CEO Mark Rourke. "The enhanced Southeast Mexico Express delivers more reliable and truck‑like service, making it an attractive option for shippers looking to move freight between Texas, Mexico and the Southeastern United States. There is strong demand in these lanes, and the upgrades further strengthen rail's ability to compete with trucks on speed and consistency while offering customers greater capacity and efficiency."
SMX gives intermodal, automotive and carload customers truck-competitive transit times, greater capacity, and environmentally sustainable rail solutions.
Advantages of SMX include:
Direct connectivity: Links to Mexico, Texas and U.S. Southeast. Market access: Expanded connectivity to diverse origin points across North America. Faster transit times: Improved time and cost efficiency supported by infrastructure upgrades. Secure transportation: Advanced technology expedites border crossings while enhancing shipment security. Environmental sustainability: Replaces up to 300 semi-trucks per train, reducing emissions.
The combined strength of CPKC and CSX through SMX continues to meet evolving customer demands and set new standards in North American freight.
Forward-looking information This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws in both the U.S. and Canada. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning expectations, beliefs, plans, goals, objectives, assumptions and statements about possible future events, conditions, and results of operations or performance. Forward-looking statements may contain statements with words or headings such as "financial expectations", "key assumptions", "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "will", "outlook", "guidance", "should" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating, but not limited, to statements concerning our commitment to providing best-in-class transportation solutions to our customers, agreements between CPKC and CSX, the realization of anticipated benefits of the Southeast Mexico Express, and the opportunities arising therefrom, our operations, priorities and plans, anticipated financial and operational performance, business prospects and demand for our services and growth opportunities.
The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, having regard to CPKC's experience and its perception of historical trends, and include, but are not limited to, expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions relating to: changes in business strategies, North American and global economic growth and conditions; commodity demand growth; sustainable industrial and agricultural production; commodity prices and interest rates; foreign exchange rates; core adjusted effective tax rates; performance of our assets and equipment; sufficiency of our budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out our business plan; geopolitical conditions, applicable laws, regulations and government policies, including, without limitation, those relating to regulation of rates, tariffs, import/export, trade, taxes, wages, labour and immigration; the availability and cost of labour, services and infrastructure; labour disruptions; the satisfaction by third parties of their obligations to CPKC; and carbon markets, evolving sustainability strategies, and scientific or technological developments. Although CPKC believes the expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions reflected in the forward-looking statements presented herein are reasonable as of the date hereof, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Current conditions, economic and otherwise, render assumptions, although reasonable when made, subject to greater uncertainty.
Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following factors: changes in business strategies and strategic opportunities; general Canadian, U.S., Mexican and global social, economic, political, credit and business conditions; risks associated with agricultural production such as weather conditions and insect populations; the availability and price of energy commodities; the effects of competition and pricing pressures, including competition from other rail carriers, trucking companies and maritime shippers in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico; North American and global economic growth and conditions; industry capacity; shifts in market demand; changes in commodity prices and commodity demand; uncertainty surrounding timing and volumes of commodities being shipped by CPKC; inflation; geopolitical instability; changes in laws, regulations and government policies, including, without limitation, those relating to regulation of rates, tariffs, import/export, trade, wages, labour and immigration; changes in taxes and tax rates; potential increases in maintenance and operating costs; changes in fuel prices; disruption in fuel supplies; uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation; compliance with environmental regulations; labour disputes; changes in labour costs and labour difficulties; risks and liabilities arising from derailments; transportation of dangerous goods; timing of completion of capital and maintenance projects; sufficiency of budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out business plans; services and infrastructure; the satisfaction by third parties of their obligations; currency and interest rate fluctuations; exchange rates; effects of changes in market conditions and discount rates on the financial position of pension plans and investments; trade restrictions, including the imposition of any tariffs, or other changes to international trade arrangements; the effects of current and future multinational trade agreements on or other developments affecting the level of trade among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico; climate change and the market and regulatory responses to climate change; anticipated in-service dates; success of hedging activities; operational performance and reliability; customer, regulatory and other stakeholder approvals and support; regulatory and legislative decisions and actions; the adverse impact of any termination or revocation by the Mexican government of Kansas City Southern de México, S.A. de C.V.'s concession; public opinion; various events that could disrupt operations, including severe weather, such as droughts, floods, avalanches, volcanism and earthquakes, and cybersecurity attacks, as well as security threats and governmental response to them, and technological changes; acts of terrorism, war or other acts of violence or crime or risk of such activities; insurance coverage limitations; material adverse changes in economic and industry conditions; the outbreak of a pandemic or contagious disease and the resulting effects on economic conditions; the demand environment for logistics requirements and energy prices, restrictions imposed by public health authorities or governments; fiscal and monetary policy responses by governments and financial institutions; disruptions to global supply chains; the realization of anticipated benefits and synergies of the CP-KCS transaction and the timing thereof; the satisfaction of the conditions imposed by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board in its March 15, 2023 decision; the successful integration of KCS into CPKC; the focus of management time and attention on the CP-KCS integration and other disruptions arising from the CP-KCS integration; estimated future dividends; financial strength and flexibility; debt and equity market conditions, including the ability to access capital markets on favourable terms or at all; cost of debt and equity capital; improvement in data collection and measuring systems; industry-driven changes to methodologies; and the ability of the management of CPKC to execute key priorities, including those in connection with the CP-KCS transaction. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. These and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are detailed from time to time in reports filed by CPKC with securities regulators in Canada and the United States, which can be accessed on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and EDGAR (www.sec.gov). Reference should be made to "Part I - Item 1A – Risk Factors" and "Part II - Item 7 – Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Forward-Looking Statements" in CPKC's annual report on Form 10-K and "Part II – Item 1A – Risk Factors" and "Part I – Item 2 – Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Forward-Looking Statements" in CPKC's interim reports on Form 10-Q.
The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, CPKC undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, or the foregoing assumptions and risks affecting such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About CPKC With its global headquarters in Calgary, Alta., Canada, CPKC is the first and only single-line transnational railway linking Canada, the United States and México, with unrivaled access to major ports from Vancouver to Atlantic Canada to the Gulf Coast to Lázaro Cárdenas, México. Stretching approximately 20,000 route miles and employing approximately 20,000 railroaders, CPKC provides North American customers unparalleled rail service and network reach to key markets across the continent. CPKC is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpkcr.com to learn more about the rail advantages of CPKC. CP-IR
About CSX CSX, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a premier transportation company. It provides rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services and solutions to customers across a broad array of markets, including energy, industrial, construction, agricultural and consumer products. For nearly 200 years, CSX has played a critical role in the nation's economic expansion and industrial development. Its network connects every major metropolitan area in the eastern United States, where nearly two-thirds of the nation's population resides. It also links more than 240 short-line railroads and more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports with major population centers and farming towns alike. More information about CSX Corporation and its subsidiaries is available at www.csx.com.CPKC Logo (CNW Group/CPKC)Cision
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