A month after Union Pacific announced its plan to acquire Norfolk Southern, the man who controls UP’s main rival in the West says his railroad has no plans to pursue NS or CSX Transportation. 

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and CEO of BNSF Railway’s owner Berkshire Hathaway, told CNBC on Monday that his company does not intend to go after CSX or make a competing bid for NS. It was the first time anyone close to BNSF had made public comments about its own plans after the July 29 announcement that UP was merging with NS. However, sources close to BNSF reported in recent weeks that executives had been telling employees they were focused on their own railroad and not on taking over another one. 

In late July, as rumors started to spread that UP was considering NS, a story surfaced that BNSF was planning to merge with CSX. But Buffett quickly denied those rumors. 

However, last week, those rumors resurfaced when BNSF and CSX announced a new partnership to launch coast-to-coast intermodal services. One of the services would connect Southern California with Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla.; another would link Phoenix with Atlanta; and a third would connect the Port of New York and New Jersey and Norfolk, Va., with Kansas City. 

In Monday’s interview, Buffett confirmed that he met directly with CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs earlier this month. Buffett said he did not want his railroad to merge with CSX but preferred the two railroads to collaborate more. The new intermodal services seem to be a result of that conversation. 

The news that BNSF has no plans to merge with CSX comes as Hinrichs faces increasing pressure from shareholders to make a deal. Last week, Ancora Holdings Group, a major CSX shareholder, announced that Hinrichs needed to make a merger move or be removed himself. Ancora said that if BNSF was not an option, then CSX should pursue CPKC. 

—Justin Franz