On April 14, 2023, the United States Surface Transportation Board (STB) formally approved the merger of the Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroads. During the merger application process, the STB raised concerns about the merger’s potential environmental impacts and mandated that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be produced by the Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA). Unfortunately that EIS was developed based upon data provided by CP and KCS. Post-merger, the STB mandated a 7-year monitoring period to determine the need for additional mitigation measures. Some of the criteria for determining the need for mitigation measures include adverse grade crossing delay impacts, potential hazardous waste contamination, and impacts to grade crossing safety.
Monitoring CPKC
During the merger approval process, CPKC pledged to provide the Coalition’s communities with monitoring equipment at grade crossings and access to monitors to track train lengths and crossing blockages. Also, there were discussions about utilizing the data to coordinate with emergency dispatch centers and provide real-time travel information to the public. All of those services were to be provided at no cost to the Coalition or its member communities. Subsequent discussions with CPKC representatives have yielded less access than was originally proposed to the Coalition. CPKC will provide monitors through its recommended vendor LinqThingz, Inc.
LinqThingz sensors provide monitoring capabilities in real-time and software platforms to receive blockage alerts. Alerts are generated when the monitors detect a blocked crossing, and the software user can monitor the length of time of a blockage and the frequency of alerts separately from the software. In order to facilitate sensor installations at grade crossings in the corridor, LinqThingz representatives indicated that they would need license agreements from each of the Coalition communities. To reduce administrative redundancy, the Coalition negotiated with LinqThingz to craft an overarching umbrella license agreement that would be acceptable to all of the Coalition’s communities. With the umbrella agreement drafted by LinqThingz and signed by CPKC, the Coalition is prepared to move forward with approving the agreement.
Rodenburg Road is the only crossing within the Village of Schaumburg’s corporate boundaries where a sensor could be located. LinqThingz currently plans to install sensors within the Village of Roselle and not within Schaumburg. However, if there arises a circumstance in which installation on the Roselle side of the Rodenburg Road crossing is not feasible, approval of the umbrella agreement would expedite the process of installing a sensor on the Schaumburg side if needed. Staff recommends that the Village Board sign the license agreement with LinqThingz.