Omaha’s Warren Buffett made made a huge bet on rail today, announcing a deal to buy Burlington Northern Sante Fe for $44 billion.

The deal for the nation’s second largest railroad
would be the biggest acquisition in the history of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment company Buffett heads. Berkshire already owns a stake of about 22 percent in Burlington Northern

Like Berkshire, Omaha is the headquarters for the largest U.S. rail carrier, Union Pacific Railroad. Though BNSF would continue to be operated from Fort Worth, Texas, the purchase and the presence of UP would ”make Nebraska a sort of national rail capital,” the Omaha World Herald reports, “Berkshire buys Burlington Northern Sante Fe.”

UP and BNSF are major employers in the Sioux City area, where traffic for each carrier has grown in recent years.