If UP is cash poor, it can't afford a bidding war with BNSF for further consolidation and penetrations of eastern or southern markets. As to a short term boost for stocks....well "I'm just shocked to see gambling going on in this casino...".

Wall Street merger mania is too often about a quick buck, cutting costs by things like eliminating competing routes to reduce costs, without regard to long run profits or service quality. But, long run stable and competitive free markets require competition. Allowing the creation of oligopolies able to control or restrict market competition in the western rail markets has been bad for many rail shippers.

The fact that many areas of the west have no real access to a competing carrier, especially for carload services, allows for abuses like discriminatory pricing and "take it or leave it" service quality. And, many would consider UP to be, by far, the worst offender in that regard.

I do know, from witnessing it personally, that fear of the UP's political muscle even goes as far as having some folks decide not to challenge some of UP's anti-competitive practices before the STB, because they feared even worse service in retaliation, with only a slim likelihood of a timely or equitable decision from the STB, to boot.

Regardless of UP's problem with this merger, maybe it's time to "just say no" the Wall Street "merger mania" in the railroad industry. Where, too often, too much of the profit is made by short term asset stripping, rather than by offering more efficient and reliable customer service.