Chicago-area merger foes see few concessions
Suburbs blast lack of mitigation, consider legal action; Metra ‘concerned’
A GROUP OF CHICAGO SUBURBS were outraged and commuter rail operator Metra was “concerned” after few conditions they sought were imposed as part of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger.
That doesn’t mean their concerns over increased freight traffic on the route CP shares with Metra’s Milwaukee DistrictWest service couldn’t be addressed later, Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman said, thanks to the board’s seven years of oversight.
Officials in the eight communities that make up the Coalition to Stop CPKC considered that no consolation. Bensenville Village President Frank DeSimone said the STB decision “ignored our concerns for safety; it ignored our concerns about quality of life; and it ignored our concerns about the negative consequences for economic development in our communities.” A statement on the coalition’s website railed about the “400% increase in freight traffic” — projected in the CP-KCS merger application as growing from three to 11 trains daily. The group said it was “reviewing all our options, including legal ones.”
Oberman sympathized with the “real fears” of the communities about safety issues arising from blocked crossings that could come from more and longer trains.
“But while the fears are legitimate,” he said, “I think some people had been given information that was just not accurate, and it understandably caused their fears to be increased. … In the communities we’re talking about, where those concerns were voiced, the average train lengths will increase by about 10 cars,” he said.
Officials in those communities may not have helped their case by seeking some $9 billion in migitation “by CP to build overpasses at virtually every crossing,” Oberman said. “But that is simply not the real world and it isn’t going to happen. And it isn’t warranted.”
He emphasized, however, that the board’s extended oversight will allow it to call for further mitigation if data shows that there is, in fact, an issue.
He offered similar thought after turning down Metra’s request to gain dispatching control of the Milwaukee West line, which it owns but is dispatched by CP.
“We are not going to order transfer of those dispatching rights,” Oberman said, “because we do not think the data requires it or supports it, and it would cause us, in effect, to break a contract.”
However, he said, if the extensive datareporting requirements show a problem, “that possibility, as well as the other conditions that were asked for, remain on the table.” The board also said it strengthened a formula offered by CP to resolve disputes with Metra.
Metra, in a statement said it “remains concerned about the potential impact of this merger on our operations. We will count on the merged railroad’s commitments and the STB’s oversight to make sure we can operate safely and reliably and continue to provide service that meets the needs of the residents of the Chicago area.” — David Lassen