Union Pacific wants to buy Norfolk Southern in a $85 billion deal that would create the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S, and potentially trigger a final wave of rail mergers across the coun...

Union Pacific said on July 29 that it had agreed to buy smaller rival Norfolk Southern for $85 billion, including debt, in a deal that would create the first transcontinental U.S. railroad.

The merger would create the United States’ first coast-to-coast rail network and span some 50,000 miles across 43 states.