The proposed merger between Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) rail lines has sent shockwaves through impacted communities across the country.
A coalition of local Illinois officials including DuPage County Engineer Christopher Snyder, recently testified during Sept. 28 hearings in front of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) against the merger, citing disruptions that could represent the "slow economic death" of their communities. One potential solution proposed during testimony was the construction of a new rail yard.
"The applicant's failure to analyze the local impact of eight, and potentially up to 14 additional trains/day, on vehicle delays, blocked vehicles and increase in truck volumes and movements, should not result in a post-merger expenditure of limited public funds to address the induced safety, capacity and congestion impacts," Snyder said. "Construction of a new rail yard, west of Elgin where our commuter line ends, would help alleviate the significant adverse impacts on coalition communities and allow for a fully modernized and optimized facility to be built and not constrained by the currently configured Bensenville Yard."
At the end of October of 2021, the railroads sought authorization from the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for CP to acquire KCS, according to the Surface Transportation Board.
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, according to CP. 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 they can’t help but feel they 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. 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,” she said. “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.
Disruption to the existing commuter rail traffic is also a top concern for the "economic viability" of these Chicago area communities. During the Sept. 28 hearing, Hanover Park Mayor and member of the board of directors for the commuter rail system serving the Chicago metropolitan area, Rodney Craig, pointed to the extensive development and investment in existing public rail transit along their corridor.
"If this merger disrupts our commuter traffic, that will be the slow economic death of all of our communities," he told the board.
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, there would be “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.
Existing rail yard capacity is also an issue. Snyder testified that the current Bensenville Rail Yard is "inadequate for current train lengths" much less the 10,000 to 12,000 foot trains being proposed post-merger.
"There are frequent instances of current trains blocking multiple road crossings near the yard today," he said. While Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern have discussed "capital improvements" to make accommodations for the increase in train traffic and length, Snyder testified there have been "no specific details" or a schedule indicating how said construction would impact the operation of the yard.
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,” Krishnamoorthi 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 Surface Transportation Board 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.
