FD 36500 · CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LIMITED; CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY; SOO LINE RAILROAD COMPANY; CENTRAL MAINE & QUEBEC RAILWAY US INC.; DAKOTA, MINNESOTA & EASTERN RAILROAD CORPORATION; AND DELAWARE & HUDSON RAILWAY COMPANY, INC. – CONTROL – KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN, THE KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, GATEWAY EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY, AND THE TEXAS MEXICAN RAILWAY COMPANY

Comment EI-31447

Received or sent 16 Dec 2021 (printed as 12/16/2021)

I am the Mayor of the City of Wood Dale, Illinois. I am submitting the attached letter in response to the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) served in the captioned proceeding on November 12, 2021. That decision in part invited public comment on the scope of the EIS to be prepared by the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA). On behalf of the City of Wood Dale, I urge OEA to ensure that the scope of the EIS includes a thorough examination of the potential impacts of the merger on the roads and communities of the City of Wood Dale and the greater Chicago area. Based on the information we have reviewed to date, there is the potential that the merged railroad’s will further burden the Chicagoland area with increased road network congestion by significantly increasing freight rail volumes over existing rail lines. Specifically, we understand the merger applicants estimate that traffic over the Milwaukee District West Metra line (Bensenville Metra) between the Bensenville Rail Yard and Randall Road is expected to increase by 235% - or 8 freight trains per day (TPD) - and 128%, or 17.44 million Annual Gross Ton Miles (GTMs). The impacts from such increases will be felt most strongly at the following five at-grade railroad crossings within the City of Wood Dale: Wood Dale Rd (US DOT #372178A), Irving Park Rd (US DOT #372177T), Wood Dale center pedestrian (US DOT #920565F), Wood Dale east pedestrian (US DOT #920564Y), Ash Ave (US DOT #372176L). Attached is my full response on behalf of the City of Wood Dale.

Submitted by: Annunziato Pulice · City of Wood Dale · Wood Dale, IL

The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.

The text EI_31447.pdf ↓

Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-36500/comment/EI-31447
File docketyard.org/document/ef80d79cb5a0ae03891791f0c2130f51f33603c942e76b87529020546eb85586.pdf · back to the docket sheet