HR0773 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0773 LRB102 26769 MST 37713 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The City of Elgin joins Bartlett, Bensenville, Hanover Park, Itasca, Roselle, Wood Dale, and DuPage County as a member of the "Coalition to Stop CPKC" to oppose the merger between the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern freight railroads; and

WHEREAS, The Coalition to Stop CPKC has filed its objections to the merger with federal regulators; and

WHEREAS, The merger would almost triple the number of freight trains while also increasing the lengths of those trains on the Metra Milwaukee West Line running from Elgin to Chicago; these more frequent and longer trains would mean longer crossing delays for commuters, school buses, and emergency responders, in addition to more noise; and

WHEREAS, In order to mitigate these issues, local units of government would be responsible for levying billions of dollars in new taxes for infrastructure improvements; and

WHEREAS, The impacts of a merger to the area would not only hurt residential and commercial property owners by negatively affecting economic development and stability but would also have significant environmental and public safety implications; and

WHEREAS, The Fox River is the primary source of drinking water for 350,000 people, and with railroad tracks located less than 100 feet from the Fox River in several places, a train derailment has the potential to be a public safety and ecological disaster, especially if a train is filled with crude oil; an explosion of such could threaten the lives of those within half a mile; and

WHEREAS, A merger would create a Class I (one) railroad that would span from the tar sands in Canada to the Gulfport refineries in Mexico, which could place cities such as Elgin in the middle of tragedies like Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, Canada in 2013, which saw a rail disaster that killed 47 people; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare our support for the City of Elgin and the Coalition to Stop CPKC in their opposition to the merger of the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Federal Surface Transportation Board to reject the CPKC merger application; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Governor, all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation, the members of the Federal Surface Transportation Board, the Director of IDOT, the Director of Metra, the Director of the Regional Transit Authority, the mayors of Bartlett, Bensenville, Elgin, Hanover Park, Itasca, Roselle, and Wood Dale, and the members of the DuPage County Board in order to bring further awareness of the negative impacts that hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents will face should this merger be approved.