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.