All the talk about congestion relief in Chicago highlights the fact that to really have congestion relief in Chicago, because of Lake Michigan, traffic heading to the Northeast can only be diverted around it to the south. That is a more compelling reason why a BNSF-NS combination would actually be more beneficial in that regard.
Specfically, with control of the ex-Wabash and Nickel Plate routes, BNSF gains a direct bypass speedway for traffic heading for Indianapolis, Detroit, Columbus, Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York/New Jersey.
With control of the Kankakee Belt and Streator connection, it already has a bypass to the south of Chicago, although that route does turn due north and runs through the southeast edge of the Chicago Metroplex.
But traffic from Minneapolis and the former GN-NP territories heading to the Northeast could also bypass Chicago by continuing south of Galesburg and getting on the Iowa Interstate to Peoria on the NS and then access those other bypass routes.
With control of NS, traffic for Louisville and Cincinnat could now go by the former Frisco and Southern across lower Illinois, thereby also bypassing Chicago.
In effect, Chicago in the long run probably ends up being more of a “destination terminal” for BNSF traffic because much of the former run-through traffic could be rerouted on at least three alternate bypass routes.
Since BNSF is for the most part an “intermodal expert” there are also several other advantages of NS ownership. In a “post-Panamax world”, direct access to the ports of Jacksonville, FL, Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC, and connection to FEC in Jacksonville creates intermodal hauls of between 800-1100 miles to the cities of Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, and Dallas from the ports that are closest to the Panama Canal.
And in the south, BNSF would have single line haul from the west coast for intermodal all the way to Charlotte, NC or from Mexi
