Supervisors in Scott County, Iowa, plan to pen a letter opposing the merger of two North American rail companies that’s expected to drastically increase train traffic along the Mississippi River there.
Scott County Supervisor Board Chair Ken Beck suggested the county board send a letter to the Surface Transportation Board opposing a railroad merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.
The merger is expected to triple the amount of train traffic between Sabula, Iowa, and Kansas City, Mo.
That includes through Iowa’s Mississippi River towns. Scott County has the most locations of any along the route vulnerable to train noise, such as homes.
“I see at this point that we need to take a stance on this,” Beck said. He added that he’d talked with neighboring Clinton and Muscatine County officials to gauge their interest in joining a letter.
