The potential merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern has stirred up lots of talk and speculation around its possible impact, from safety issues to job opportunities and other likely scenarios impacting the railroad industry. However, what a lot of folks are not discussing is the major disruption this merger will cause to local communities along its route, including one major city that’s played a central role in the nation’s connection of freight railroad–Chicago.
Throughout the course of my 54 years of experience in transportation and rail, including 37 years with CSX, I’ve witnessed or been directly involved in nine freight rail mergers, and the most common theme among each one can be summed up in one word: disruption.
Merging railroads of this scale brings significant impact and complexity. On one hand, it can lead to long-term cost efficiencies for suppliers and manufacturers that rely on rail to transport goods across the country, and the short-term effects are often positive with job creation to support construction and integration efforts. On the other hand, the most lasting impact and disruption of these mass-scale mergers will be felt by the communities located along the expanded or newly built rail lines and tracks.
Increased traffic on some lines that will create congestion that is felt by local communities in the form of increased gate down times at crossings, noise impacts of additional horns where there are no quiet zones in place, locomotive noise impacts, and an increase in slowed or stopped trains at congested locations such as entrances to yards or at-grade crossings with other railroads. Not to mention the potential impacts to commuter and intercity passenger service that shares the tracks with the freight railroads of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.
In taking a close look at local communities along this rail network across the U.S., there’s a variety of factors that can impact residents and neighborhoods ranging from environmental damage, safety concerns, noise pollution, traffic congestion and disruption, as well as socioeconomic displacement. In working in Chicago during the CN acquisition of the EJ&E, the impact on communities such as Barrington or Lynwood, in Illinois, created traffic pattern changes that increased train traffic by up to 400%. These communities and others alike were able to secure some concessions from the railroad through the STB process that allowed them to construct rail grade separations, thereby easing some of the impacts on their communities.
One metropolitan area with numerous surrounding communities that will feel the effects and disruption the most from this merger is Chicago. This merger will mean even more trains passing through already one of the major transportation hubs in the Midwest. The merger has the potential to also cause further disruption to residents and commuters who are already waiting sometimes more than 10 minutes for a freight train to cross a track—despite Illinois law prohibiting the blocking of crossings for this amount of time. The influx of freight trains through Chicago has the potential to cause substantial delays in local commuters’ schedules and inconvenience their daily lives.
This combined merger will also interfere with commuter rail, leading to delays for passengers on Chicago’s Amtrak and Metra rail lines, even though by federal law Amtrak passenger trains must be given preference over freight trains.
One initiative that resulted from the multiple mergers in the 1990s and culminating with a record snowstorm in January 1999—the Chicago CREATE program—is a great example of how a public-private partnership worked to improve the way passengers and goods are transported via rail. In my experience working on the CREATE program, I learned firsthand from meetings with local communities what impact freight trains had on them. In this case, the Union Pacific Geneva Subdivision and the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line are both expected to see additional train traffic.
During my experience as the Director of the Chicago Transportation Coordination Office (CTCO) in Chicago from 2003-2008, an incident at any point in the Chicago terminal had an almost immediate effect on trains not only in Chicago but a domino effect on trains enroute to Chicago. While the merger may eliminate some interchanges between railroads in Chicago, it will create new interchanges and modify others, resulting in changes to every railroad operating plan in Chicago. In addition, shippers that today use a specific railroad or multiple railroads will look to improve their costs and transit times, which will create more disruption that will take months to sort out.
During the CSX/NS acquisition of Conrail in 1999, when I was the Director of Train Operations in Chicago for CSX, up until the actual date of the split, it was unknown which railroad any shipper was going to use, and many shifted multiple times afterwards to avoid what I termed at the time “rolling congestion” where shippers would transition to the less-congested railroad, only to find out that the shift impacted both railroads, and the level of congestion would ebb and flow for up to one year afterwards. While the UP+NS merger is different than when CSX and NS “carved” up Conrail, shippers still have the ability stick with their current options or look elsewhere.
Before this merger gains approval, municipalities in its path should start planning sooner rather than later. One way to do so is to commission a study to better understand how the extended, enhanced or new railroad line will impact its community. For example, a detailed operating and infrastructure study can show whether infrastructure that needs to be built, such as a bridge to allow trains to travel under or over major streets and highways to reduce the amount of impact to residents from a traffic perspective. At the same time, any crossing closures can assist in the development of a Quiet Zone, which would also improve the quality of life for a community. This type of knowledge will also help in negotiations with the rail giants to help potentially offset the infrastructure costs to the municipality.
What I’ve learned in my tenure working for some of the nation’s biggest freight rail companies, like CSX, and on projects with other Class I railroads including CN, CPKC, NS and UP, is that it typically gets significantly worse before it gets better for the communities involved. My best advice for municipality leadership is to act early, stay informed and advocate consistently for your community’s interests.
Earl Wacker is a Director in RINA North America’s Rail & Transit Practice and has been with the firm since 2020. He has been involved in the railroad industry in North America for more than 50 years. With 37 years’ experience at CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) and its predecessors, he worked in every aspect of the railroad business. In 2008, Wacker retired from CSXT and took a position at AECOM (URS), where he was responsible for all railroads in North and South America. He retired from AECOM in 2019 and formed his own company to consult with railroads and other entities on issues ranging from operating coordination, capital project management, rules compliance, etc.
