A coalition of municipal leaders and public safety officials representing eight Illinois communities whose “public safety and quality of life” would be directly impacted by a proposed merger between Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroads are traveling to Washington, D.C. to press their concerns before the Surface Transportation Board at a public hearing Wednesday.
“The merger would conjoin the two Class I freight railroads, adding eight to 14 additional freight trains a day onto the Milwaukee District West line," according to a news release by Coalition to Stop CPKC announcing the coalition’s plan to testify at the Surface Transportation Board (STB) hearing. "The increase in the number of trains – and in train lengths more than two miles – would have a detrimental impact on public safety and quality of life for residents and business operations. If approved, the merger would increase crossing delays, congestion, noise and vibrations – creating health and safety hazards for residents and commuters, as well as decreasing property values for those in proximity of the line.”
At the end of October of 2021, CP and KCS sought authorization from the STB for CP to acquire KCS, according to the STB. CP and KCS are two of the largest freight railroads in North America and serve a wide range of industry including agriculture and minerals, military, automotive, chemical and petroleum, energy, industrial and consumer products. Since the CP and KCS rail networks do not overlap, the proposed merger is considered "end-to-end" connecting Mexico to Canada with extended lines across the United States. Rail traffic across these lines is expected to change under this proposed merger with several portions of the network experiencing increases of at least eight additional trains per day.
Carie Anne Ergo, the Village administrator of Itasca and chairperson of the Coalition to Stop CPKC said the village “can’t help, but feel we are being railroaded.” In previous testimony delivered during the STB Environmental Impact Statement hearing in Itasca, Illinois on Sept. 12, Ergo highlighted the concerns of the eight suburban Chicago communities of over 300,000 total residents whose roadways see millions of daily commuters.
“This line cuts right through downtowns," Ergo said. "Most days, our communities see only two freight trains. If approved, we could see 14 freight trains daily running through our communities in just three years. What will that do to ambulance runs? Police rushing to calls for service? Parents taking their children to school? Businesses making deliveries?”
Ergo went on to present railroad crossing delay analysis suggesting “life-altering and life-threatening” impacts to their communities under the currently planned merger.
Railroad crossing delay analysis conducted by the Coalition to Stop CPKC showed that under the proposed merger’s daily increase of eight to 14 freight trains would have “significant impact” to commuter, commercial and emergency response at each of the 30 at grade crossings within their communities. Aggregate daily impact at the 30 crossings would result in an increase of 20.5 to 36 hours of “gate down times” resulting in an additional 15,000 to 23,000 vehicles, including emergency vehicles, blocked each day.
According to the STB, CP and KCS have proposed to make 25 capital improvements to accommodate for expected increase in rail traffic including adding new passing sidings, extending existing sidings, adding a section of double track and adding a facility working track.
In early September, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) issued a statement voicing his concern over the proposed merger.
“As things stand, this merger would more than triple freight rail traffic between Bensenville and Elgin while providing no meaningful mitigation or relief to local communities for the negative consequences that rail activity will have in terms of public safety, noise increases, environmental impacts and the timely function of local Metra service,” he said. “So far, we have received no proposals that seriously address the needs of our constituents, and that’s why I am leading a coalition of Illinois leaders in calling on the Surface Transportation Board to heed the very real concerns of the families who will live with the consequences of the Board’s decision on this proposed merger.”
Earlier in July, Krishnamoorthi along with U.S. Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL) and U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) sent a letter to STB Chairman Martin Oberman opposing the merger as currently proposed, citing safety and livelihood concerns from residents and emergency responders of Chicago area communities as well as complications related to regional commuter rail.
The STB is an independent federal agency which regulates surface transportation, primarily freight rail lines. The STB website states that it maintains jurisdiction over railroad rate, practice and service issues and rail restructuring transactions, including mergers, line sales, line construction and line abandonments.
