THERE THEY GO AGAIN.

Public officials in the Chicago area have no clue what a busy railroad looks like.  All the same, when Canadian National sought to purchase Elgin Joliet & Eastern to connect its former Wisconsin Central lines west of Chicago and its former Grand Trunk Western lines east of Chicago with the former Illinois Central for points south and west, residents of tony suburbs along the Chicago Outer Belt cried foul.  "Suburban leaders fear the merger could turn their downtowns into parking lots, with at least a 300% increase in freight train traffic and individual trains up to two miles long."  (I have to tell you the story about the subscription parking lots for well-off train commuters, but that's another day.)  Many of those communities are effectively parking lots much of the day right now, and it's the maltimed traffic lights and ongoing road repairs at fault, not the existing trains.  Recall, dear reader, that if one freight train a day becomes three, there's your 300% increase in freight trains, and those existing trains tend to be land barges and you really ought to familiarize yourself with what those placard numbers on tank cars mean.

Now Canadian Pacific might be running a few more freight trains coming off Kansas City Southern, and again, the carping commences.

[Trains] take cars and trucks off the road, moving people and goods more efficiently. But the mayors of eight towns along the Milwaukee District West Line are trying to stop a merger that they say would increase train traffic by 300%.

"It would cause irreparable damage to our residents, children, businesses and property owners," Itasca mayor Jeff Pruyn.

Apparently Metra, the Commuter Rail operator, have fears of freight train interference. With the freight trains mostly held out of Chicago during commuter rush hours, that isn't a big deal, but to the extent Metra would like to move to more of a Regional Rail model, that's worth some attention. On the other hand, seeing a few additional freight trains as some infrastructural apocalypse is too much.

Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain described the city’s costs to mitigate the impact of increased rail traffic as “astronomical.” Others spoke of environmental, traffic, and safety concerns.

The mayors said the coalition will be filing its response to the merger with the Surface Transportation Board by the Feb. 28 deadline for comments.

I wonder how many of these local officials will be quite happy to accept 100% federal funding for street repairs they weren't capable of doing on their own.  It's rich to start griping about the effect of a few more freight trains.