SANTA FE SOUTHERN PACIFIC APPEALS MERGER RULING

  Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp will
  later today formally ask the U.S. Interstate Commerce
  Commission (ICC) to reconsider its earlier rejection of the
  merger of the holding company's railroad assets, a company
  spokesman said.
      "We expect to file papers late tonight" asking the ICC to
  reopen the rail merger case, spokesman Rich Hall said in a
  telephone interview from the company's Chicago headquarters.
      The ICC had rejected in July, on grounds it would reduce
  competition, the merger of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific
  Railroads.
      The deadline for seeking ICC reconsideration of the merger
  plan is midnight tonight.
      Santa Fe Southern Pacific owns the Santa Fe railroad and
  holds the Southern Pacific railroad assets in trust while
  awaiting federal approval of the merger plan.
      The ICC had ordered the holding company to divest one or
  the other railroad but stayed its ruling pending a decision on
  the request for reconsideration.
      If the ICC ultimately decides not to reopen the case, it is
  expected to reinstate the divestiture order.
  

