North Cook News

The proposed merger of two railroad companies has brought opposition from the communities the merger would most affect.

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 and Kansas City Southern railroads traveled to Washington to press their concerns before the Surface Transportation Board at its Sept. 28 public hearing.

“Our communities’ economic viability is also based around our commuter line,” Mayor of Hanover Park Rodney Craig testified. “We have invested heavily on transit-oriented development along here. If this merger disrupts our commuter traffic, that will be the slow economic death of all of our communities.”

The Daily Herald wrote the merger would create a rail system from Canada to Mexico.

At the end of October 2021, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) sought authorization from the Surface Transportation Board (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. 

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.

“If the current merger proceeds as proposed, Metra ridership and its finances will be devastated," U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Schaumburg) told members of the board, the Daily Herald reported. 

Freight Wave reported that CP and KCS argued having a transcontinental railroad could increase companies’ access to new markets. 

Carie Anne Ergo, the Village Administrator of Itasca and chairperson of the Coalition to Stop CPKC said they, “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. 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 a railroad crossing delay analysis suggesting “life-altering and life-threatening” impacts to their communities under the currently planned merger.

Freight Wave noted Chicago sees significant rail freight traffic.

A 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.

In early September Krishnamoorthi 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.

“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.”

Freight Waves added that Texas officials argued the increased rail traffic will promote air pollution.

Earlier in July, Krishnamoorthi along with Rep. Marie Newman (D-Chicago) and Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth sent a letter to Surface Transportation Board (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 information submitted thus far is sorely lacking,” Rob Reilly, CN chief operating officer said, Freight Waves reported. “The board should require submitting a service assurance plan to avoid making the mistakes of the past. A service assurance plan is especially critical, given the service issues in the United States rail network this year.”

The Canadian National Railway though, sees benefits. “If you look at the major mergers in the past, the applicants understood that the benefits they sought nonetheless posed potential risks to service, competition and local communities,” Ray Atkins, a transportation attorney providing counsel for Canadian National Railway (CN), said. “And they worked/solved through [those issues] so that the merger would clearly be in the public’s interest.”

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.