Canadian Pacific railroad has started talking with Mississippi River cities in Iowa to discuss its proposed merger with Kansas City Southern. The companies are waiting for US regulatory approval of the 31-billion-dollar deal which closed in December.
Andy Cummings, Community Relations Manager for Canadian Pacific, says he and several other representatives have met with mayors and other leaders in Bettendorf, Davenport, LeClaire, and Muscatine.
Currently eight to ten trains travel through downtown Davenport and Bettendorf every day. If the merger is approved, that will triple to 24 to 30 trains a day. He says to put it in perspective, a 10,000-foot train traveling at 40 mph takes about three minutes to pass through a crossing.
Cummings says Canadian Pacific's research shows affected intersections in the Quad Cities would be open 93% of the day.
The company wants to hear from communities and residents to negotiate solutions to concerns about noise, traffic, emergency services, and other issues. The federal government's Surface Transportation Board has completed a document called, the Final Scope of Study.
The Surface Transportation Board's next step is to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS. It will examine the effects of Canadian Pacific's merger with Kansas City Southern on:
- Rail capacity
- Rail traffic
- Rail yards
- Intermodal facilities
- Capital improvement projects
The EIS will also address many issues raised by public comments the board has already received. Those include effects of the merger on:
- Safety
- Local transportation, vehicle traffic, and delays
- Noise
- Pollution and climate change
- Local economy
- Energy
- Cultural and environmental resources
- Environmental justice
