With a term expiration date of Nov. 30, 2030, Schultz, along with Republican Chairperson Patrick J. Fuchs, whose second term expires Jan. 14, 2029, will be in place for an anticipated early 2027 vote on a proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger. A formal merger application is expected before month’s end, beginning an arduous review process whose timeline has yet to be set but culminating, by statute, within 13 months. The STB has sole statutory authority to approve railroad mergers, although the Department of Justice and Department of Transportation are statutory parties to the proceeding and are expected to file comments. STB Democratic member Karen J. Hedlund’s first term expires Dec. 31, and unless she is nominated to a second term during her statutorily allowed 12-month holdover, she will have departed by the time of an early 2027 merger vote. Two other STB seats are currently vacant. Although Republican Richard Kloster was nominated earlier this year by POTUS 47 to fill a third Republican seat, the Senate Commerce Committee has yet to recommend his confirmation, which must precede a Senate floor vote as occurred Dec. 11 with Schultz. The Commerce Committee was scheduled to vote on a Kloster recommendation Dec. 8, but the vote was deferred without explanation. Speculation, without validation, is that Kloster will be recommended by the committee in a party-line vote and likely will be confirmed to an unexpired term of former STB member and Democrat Martin J. Oberman, who retired in 2024. That seat expires Dec.…
