Ferromex units on the BNSF - Trains Magazine

(Quote:  An NS/BNSF Merger? Now I like the sound of that.) 

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Operationally, infrastructurally, BNSF + NS merger makes sense. 

On the other hand, what would happen to the "weak sisters" CSX and UP?  They both have been plagued with not enough motive power,  not enough money for improvements or expansion, poor on-time service, and nasty little accidents that ought not to have happened (at least not on a well-maintained pike, and I'm saying this with particular regard to CSX). 

Could the country afford to have a good third of its route-miles run by them, or a UP-CSX merger?  Wouldn't it take government cash infusions for them both , lest they turn into another Penn Central? 

Having corporate allies is a great thing.  But if we get down to two dominant powers with friendly or hostile relations with the others, why, that's what happened at the beginning of WW I.  Maybe not the greatest analogy in the world, but the fact remains that seven is just about the minimum number of players to maintain a group dynamic. 

al