Santa Fe Southern Pacific will appeal a decision.

The railroad company said that it will ask the Interstate Commerce Commission to reconsider its decision to block the proposed merger of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads into what was to have been the country’s third-largest rail system. “I will try to get the decision turned around as soon as possible” the holding company’s president, John J. Schmidt, said at a news conference. The ICC on July 24 rejected its staff’s recommendations in voting against the merger, saying the adverse effect on competition in some parts of the country outweighed public benefits.