Congressman Krishnamoorthi Highlights New Memo on Freight Interference at Chicago Union Station Press Conference with Metra Leadership
CHICAGO – At today's press conference at Chicago Union Station, alongside Metra CEO Jim Derwinski, Metra COO Kevin McCann, and Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi released a new memo detailing the frequency and duration of delays caused by freight interference on Metra's Milwaukee District-West (MD-W) line. The memo, which draws from Metra's publicly available monthly on-time performance reports, along with raw data from the past five years specific to the MD-W line provided by Metra, helps illustrate the negative impact of freight interference on Metra delays and Metra commuters, and shows why the proposed merger between Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern would only exacerbate the issue by increasing freight traffic.
The memo contains the following key findings:
- CP's three daily freight trains (on average) along Metra's MD-W line cause regular delays to Metra trains, even during peak times.
- The total annual frequency of delays caused by freight interference on the MD-W line almost tripled between 2017-2021, and disproportionally more of these delays occurred during peak periods.
- During peak periods, these delays grew to be almost six times more frequent.
- The total annual duration of delays caused by freight interference on the MD-W line almost tripled between 2017-2021, and peak periods were disproportionally negatively affected.
- During peak periods, these durations grew to be almost six times longer. On average, about 45% of delays caused by freight interference during peak periods between 2017-2021 were greater than 10 minutes.
"Today's memo shows why the proposed merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern will only worsen Metra delays due to freight interference, and could even put Metra's current and future service at risk if proper mitigation measures aren't put in place," said Congressman Krishnamoorthi. "After evaluating the impact that this proposed merger would have on Metra's service, it is clear that this merger as currently structured is not in the public interest. If approved, the merger must be made to align with the public interests of our communities, with the appropriate mitigation measures in place."
To view the full memo, click here.