All Access

Pro Rata Premium

Axios Pro Rata Premium

Standard

Axios Pro Rata: Non-Premium Subscribers

Other

🚂 Rail rivals take aim at Union Pacific deal

📅 The week that was

📰 The reading line

📈 Chart of the week

Rival railroads opposing the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger will ask regulators for access to thousands of miles of track if the deal goes through.

Why it matters: The requests could blow up the deal, as Union Pacific said in May it would walk away if the Surface Transportation Board grants such remedies.

UP would be required to pay Norfolk Southern a $2.5 billion breakup fee.

The latest: Last week, BNSF revealed plans to request 824 miles of trackage access from Chicago to Harrisburg and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

CPKC and CSX, meanwhile, want access to Kansas City to St. Louis trackage — arguing that Union Pacific's deal with Canadian National doesn't go far enough to restore competition.

Between the lines: Granting more than $750 million in line sales or access rights would allow the STB to approve the deal — and avoid a clash with the White House — while effectively derailing it.

1 big thing: 🚂 Rail rivals take aim at Union Pacific deal

Illustration of a dollar sign tied with rope on train tracks.

CADDi, a Chicago- and Tokyo-based manufacturing automation firm, raised a $114 million Series D at a $1.2 billion valuation from Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures and others. Go deeper

DHL has acquired two South American health care logistics businesses — extending a push into medical shipping that's also underway at rivals FedEx and UPS. Go deeper

BuyWander, an auction platform for retail returns, raised $21 million led by Madrona Venture Group and Inspired Capital. Go deeper

Supply chain tech startup Kaleris has three acquisitions under letters of intent. Go deeper

Helios AI, a Tysons, Va.-based food supply chain AI startup, raised $3m from W23 Global. Go deeper

Logibot, a Belgian logistics robotics platform, raised €1.4m. BeamBerlin led, joined by RDY Ventures and PMV. Go deeper

Magentic, an agentic platform for procurement data, raised an $18 million Series A led by Felicis. Go deeper

2. 📅 The week that was

Illustration of a tabletop calendar with a page turned revealing Benjamin Franklin

🚂 Union Pacific pans rival railroads' trackage rights requests (Trains)

🇮🇳 PSA is said to consider selling stake in Mumbai port operations (Bloomberg)

🚛 Sparhawk Trucking to shut down after failing to find buyer (Trucking Dive)

⚓ Baltimore port readying to boost CSX double-stack service (JOC)

💊 Mucinex maker bets $400 million more on U.S. supply chain (WSJ)

3. 📰 The reading line

Illustration of a person reading a hundred dollar bill-shaped newspaper

Date: FactSet; Deutsche Bank; Chart: Axios/Matt Phillips; Note: S&P 500 is presented on a logarithmic scale.

Market watchers think the market should be able to continue to gain altitude despite a headwind from Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

Why it matters: Rate-hiking cycles have sometimes undermined the market, leaving investors with ugly losses.

4. 📈 Chart of the week

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

transportation

business

c-suite

retail-news

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

salt-lake-city

denver

fort-lauderdale

cincinnati

scottsdale

boulder

kansas-city

austin

chicago

dallas

detroit

atlanta

indianapolis

nashville

nw-arkansas

columbus

hollywood

washington-dc

north-of-cincy

mesa

richmond

san-francisco

boston

des-moines

houston

phoenix

miami

philadelphia

seattle

new-orleans

colorado-springs

huntsville

raleigh

san-antonio

twin-cities

pittsburgh

san-diego

tampa-bay

portland

cleveland

arapahoe

douglas

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

⛓️ Supply chain deals weekly

September 19, 2026

1 big thing: 🚂 Rail rivals take aim at Union Pacific deal