ITASCA, Ill. — A group of Chicago suburbs seeking more than $9 billion to mitigate impacts of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger says it will present new testimony showing potential adverse effects at a public meeting tonight on the Surface Transportation Board’s Draft Environmental Impact Study on the merger.
The meeting, the first of four public sessions over the next four days, will be held at the Westin Chicago Northwest hotel, 400 Park Boulevard in Itasca, beginning at 6 p.m.
A press release from the Coalition to Stop CPKC claims the merger could add as many as 14 freight trains per day on the route shared by CP and Metra’s Milwaukee West commuter line. The CP-KCS merger filing with the STB estimates freight traffic will increase by eight trains per day, from three to 11, three years after the merger.
“The increase in the number of trains — and in train lengths to nearly 3 miles — would have a detrimental impact on the quality of life for residents and business operations, property values, and vehicular movement from numerous harms, including safety generally, crossing delays, noise, vibration, environmental, and dangers to pedestrians and commuters,” the coalition says in a press release.
Coalition members are the communities of Bartlett, Bensenville, Elgin, Itasca, Hanover Park, Roselle, Wood Dale, and Schaumburg, as well as DuPage County. Earlier this year, they asked the STB to block the merger, but failing that requested up to $9.5 billion for infrastructure improvements [see “Chicago suburbs seek $9.5 billion …,” Trains News Wire, March 1, 2022]. In a July document responding to filings by other parties regarding the merger, CP called conditions sought by coalition members “simply untenable and disproportionate to any possible impact” of the merger [see “CP, KCS dispute Metra merger contentions …,” News Wire, July 14, 2022].
The draft environmental report released earlier this year by the STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis concluded that “apart from train noise, which could result in adverse impacts at some locations,” the potential impacts of the merger would be “negligible, minor, and/or temporary” [see “STB draft review finds little environmental impact …,” News Wire, Aug. 5, 2022].
Other in-person meetings on the STB’s environmental report will be held Tuesday in Davenport, Iowa; Wednesday in Excelsior Springs, Missouri; and Thursday in Beaumont, Texas. More information is at the STB website on the merger.
Interesting that none of these places would exist (except Elgin) but for the railroad. The real environmental hazard in the country is clueless suburbanites.
Even Elgin has the railroads to thank for their early growth.
I quoted the late Jim McMcellan once, I shall do so again:
:The clock was ticking and submitting to blackmail was the only alternative”.
And Robert, yes, I have seen 280-290 car combo coal trains roll into Proviso. And I have seen 15000 ft stack and manifest trains come out of the city.
Gerald Gerald Gerald. I believe the statement was “train lengths to nearly 3 miles”. They didnt say every train would be 3 miles long.
Also, I hate to break it to you, but where I am they ARE running trains up to 16000ft. Thats three miles mind you.
“And trains to nearly 3 miles long”. There are several livestream video sites online and I enjoy watching one in Kearney, NE. You’ll occasionally see empty westbound coal trains of 280+ total cars. Is a train of that length even 3 miles? And does anyone actually believe trains of that length would/could operate around Chicago?
And this is exactly what I meant in my post last week that this entire thing is resembling a mob shakedown.
The mob being all these communities trying to get as much money out of CP as they can, more than likely to make up for there lack of proper investment in infrastructure improvements over the last decades by these same communities.
And if we don’t get the money we are going to run off to regulators to try and block a merger that will only help improve the movement of freight.
What a waste of time and money for something that is going to happen anyway.
How do they feel about the Elgin-O’Hare expressway?
But that’s the highway builders, IL Tollway Authority, and ILDOT. These folks know they cannot stop the highway juggernaut. Just ask the 10-15 homeowners on the east side of Hinsdale when ILDOT and/or the Tollway folks showed up to widen that 30mile segment of I-294. Those homeowners were told “We need to take the land your home is on. You need to get out of our way”. And that’s that. But the railroad these folks think they can stop. All they have to do is what happened when Glenview rose up to stop capacity expansion in their neighborhood on the Metra Milw North to allow the addition of three CHI-MKE roundtrips. ILDOT folded like a house of cards. And where was little Dicky Durbin who is now so gung ho for that Amtrak CUS expansion initiative that includes adding a new ramp off the St. Charles Air Line. Sen. Durbin could have lent his support for the two hugely worthwhile Glenview area projects and service expansion one Amtrak most popular routes out of the CHI Hub. But he was MIA for that one. “But they might not vote for me in the next go around.”
The only VALID complaint they can really have is train length. All of the others are just mud in the water.
Amen to that, Mr. Boza.
I think them stating 3 mile long trains is completely BS, 2 miles maybe, but 3, not a single railroad is running 3 mile long trains on a consistent basis, that’s 16,000 feet mind you.
This will be an interesting testimony. Would like to see how they justify the $9 billion.
Having 3 times lived within a block of the UP-West Line (Geneva Sub), I think they over protest.
Coal is down, but all kinds of freights (and passenger) in all manner of frequencies traverse Chicago suburbs and have during all the years these suburbs have developed and prospered. Including new condos, homes and apartments directly by the r/w. How is it that these people don’t know that?
Case in point — look at the photo itself — the very same city protesting trains has a new apartment building right beside the track. Trains can’t be all that bad, ey?
Agree Charles. It’s been some time since I’ve been to Roselle (even though parents still live in Hanover Park) but that is quite a surprise in the photo, guessing this is just east of Roselle Road where the old Ace Hardware was in a block long section of old town. Roselle came to be as a milk stop and grew from that little stop all because of the railroad.