Northwest suburban residents say railroad merger has been major headache with long railroad crossing

BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) -- A year ago, the Canadian Pacific Railroad acquired the Kansas City Southern Railroad, creating a continuous rail from Mexico to Canada. The railroad says that's been good for commerce, but some northwest suburbs say it's not been good for them.

The freight trains keep the economy going, but as they come through at all times of the day and night, they are also causing big headaches in some towns, where they can tie up traffic for long stretches.

"The trains are stopped for 15-20 minutes or so. So I'm late for my appointments. It is a big inconvenience for some," said Joel Guevara.

At a Bensenville barbershop, they see trains going through the Bensenville station all day. Guevara, who is a barber at Fadez Chicago in Bensenville, said the long delays cause lots of inconveniences.

Village manager Evan Summers said it could be more serious if it prevents emergency vehicles like fire or police from getting across town.

"Hasn't happened, knock on wood. But this is with one additional train. You can expect a 300% increase in trains on this corridor will have an impact on public safety," Summers said.

Summers said he expects the railroad to add more trains in the next two years. Many of the trains come to Bensenville, which is home to a major yard where commerce is loaded and unloaded. Bensenville's village manager has a camera shooting the crossing from his office. In December he recorded a freight train that took 32 minutes to get through the crossing.

Members of the suburban coalition opposing the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern filed suit several months ago.

"A judge has to take into account the needs and wants of the people of our communities," said Hanover Park Village President Rod Craig.

The suburban coalition is also concerned the railroad plans to add more trains.

A spokesperson for the railroad said they have added just one more train a day to the schedule, and overall, the length of the trains is now shorter than before.

In a statement a spokesperson says of the merger, "It's improving safety, enhancing competition, providing customers with new service options, enabling investments, reducing GHG emissions and driving economic growth."

Some suburban leaders disagree.

"Since we started tracking, there's been 85 instances of trains blocking crossings more than 10 minutes," Summers said.

Community leaders say they have no illusions about stopping the $31 billion acquisition. But they would like to force the railroads to pay for some mitigation of the problems.