Union pacific bought csx?

Question

has union pacific bought csx? i live right next to a csx line and a train with four union pacific engines pulling it just came by.

Answer 1

No.  If there's ever a merger or buyout of any big railroads, it would definitely make the news.

Railroads frequently exchange locomotives for a variety of reasons.  Run through trains with higher priority will often use one road's engines over it's journey across more than one railroad.

Railroads also usually have agreements in place to lend power to one another.  "Horsepower hours" is a common term for this: a railroad that borrows, say, a 4,000 hp unit for 100 days (2400 hours) will owe the other road 9.6 million HP hours, and there's a constantly changing credit and debit system between railroads.

North American railroads, at least the bigger ones, have moved more towards co-operation and alliances with one another in the last decade or two: it's cheaper than buying each other out, it gets around regulatory red tape, and there's usually cost savings to be had by both.  Sharing locomotives is just one specific example of this.

Answer 2

I don't think so.  That would have made the news.

It isn't uncommon to see another carrier's power on a train, especially when these trains are "run through" trains.  Usually, on expedited trains, the time to swap the power out delays a train that may be running behind already, so they let it go as it looks.

In other instances, carriers have some sort of agreement in place for the "pooling" of power, not only as a time saving mechanism, but so there is enough power on hand to meet traffic volume.

Answer 3

No, there has been no buy or merger.  I don't know where you live, but if the train was a through-train (it doesn't originate on CSX, it's coming from UP territory), it's easier to just leave the UP engines on board and have a CSX crew run them through to their destination.  The railroads allow foreign engines, and cars, onto each other's tracks all the time, and they charge each other for their use, but it all usually breaks even in the long run.  Out where I work (New York and New England), the signals require special receiving hardware to work, so it's almost always CSX-only power.  If there's foreign power, it's rare, and they are never lead units.