Chicago Illinois USA - A coalition of Chicago suburbs says it would cost between US$5.5 billion and US$9.5 billion to mitigate the impact of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern (CPKC) merger on their communities.
 
That's more than the entire price tag of the CREATE program, which aims to spend US$4.6 billion on 70 rail improvement projects across the Chicago area.
 
The Coalition to Stop CPKC on Monday urged federal regulators to reject the proposed merger.
 
"The Board cannot approve the subject transaction as proposed because the newly merged CPKC would nearly triple the current level of freight rail trains on the Elgin Subdivision in three years, while also increasing the length of its trains, plans that would cause immeasurable, collective harm to all the Coalition member communities," according to the communities' filing with the Surface Transportation Board (STB).
 
The costs to mitigate the harms caused by the merger far outweigh the benefits of the combination, the communities argue.
 
And any approval of the merger should be conditioned on CPKC modifying its operating plan to eliminate additional freight traffic from operating over the west end of the Elgin Subdivision, they told the board.
 
The group includes Bartlett, Bensenville, Elgin, Itasca, Hanover Park, Roselle, Wood Dale, and Schaumburg, all towns along the Metra Milwaukee District West Line between Chicago and Elgin.
 
Metra owns the trackage, which is dispatched by CP.
 
The total population of the communities is about 300,000.
 
CP has projected that freight traffic on the Elgin Subdivision west of Bensenville Yard would rise to 11 trains per day, up from three, three years after the merger.
 
The double-track route carries 38 Metra commuter trains per weekday, down from 60 prior to the pandemic.
 
But the communities claim that CP's projections underestimate the potential rise in traffic over the Elgin Subdivision and the neighboring Chicago Subdivision.
 
CP estimates Chicago Sub traffic would also increase from three to 11 per day.
 
The coalition says mitigation measures should include:
 
✱  Construction of train stations, related facilities, and track upgrades in Elgin at a cost of US$5 billion to US$8.9 billion.
 
✱  Nine grade-separated crossings in Bensenville, Itasca, Wood Dale, and Barlett at a cost of US$315 million.
 
✱  Construction of a major state highway interchange in Bensenville for US$125 million.
 
✱  Safety upgrades at 20 grade crossings.
 
✱  Dozens of measures to mitigate increases in vibration, noise, and potential damage to underground utilities.
 
Bill Stephens.