R2026-192 Resolution Authorizing the City of Decatur to Engage Deutsche Bahn Engineering, Consulting, and Operations North America, Inc. (DB E.C.O. North America, Inc.) For Technical Services for Environmental Analysis and Mitigation Related to the

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All STB-bound work products must be reviewed by the City's separately retained STB legal counsel before filing or public release; legal review is the City's responsibility and is not included in this scope of work 9. AVAILABLE BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS The following documents are available to proposers as background context.They do not constitute the evidentiary record for this engagement — proposers are responsible for obtaining and documenting current, authoritative data sources appropriate for STB submission. • STB Docket No. FD 36873—merger application,Decision No.24(Discovery Guidelines,June 18,2026), and all publicly available STB filings: available at STB public docket(www.stb.gov) • City of Decatur Notice of Participation—available from the City upon request • Decatur Area Transportation Efficiency Study(DATES)—URS Corporation,December 2013(DUATS/ City of Decatur). Proposers are required to review this document and address it in their technical approach. The DATES study is directly relevant to this engagement for the following reasons:(1)it developed a Rail Traffic Controller(RTC)simulation model of the Decatur area railroad network using operating data obtained directly from NS,CN,and CSX;(2)it documented NS-specific at-grade crossing blockage frequency and duration data for seven priority crossings using the RTC model,establishing a 2011-2013 baseline;(3)it identified the NS Brush College Road/Faries Parkway crossing as the most-blocked crossing in the Decatur area at 198 blockages per week and 17.2 hours of delay per week;(4)it included conceptual cost estimates for grade separation at priority NS crossings;and(5)it documented the NS flat yard as one of the largest flat switching yards on the NS system.Important update: since the DATES study was completed,a grade separation has been constructed at Brush College Road and Fames Parkway over the NS lead into ADM. The 2013 blockage data for that specific crossing is therefore superseded by the completed improvement and should not be cited as current impact evidence.However,the DATES analysis remains relevant in several respects:the RTC model structure and methodology provide a foundation proposers should assess for potential update;the remaining at-grade crossings in the Brush College corridor—particularly the ADM East Plant crossing—retain current relevance and were flagged in DATES as having significant growth potential; and the merger analysis should address whether increased NS flat yard activity and train volumes under the merger operating plan affect the adequacy of the completed grade separation and stress the remaining crossings in the corridor.The City has made a significant public investment in the Brush College corridor;the STB filing should document whether the merger erodes the value of that investment by changing operating conditions beyond those the grade separation was designed to accommodate. The study is available at decaturil.gov and will be provided to shortlisted proposers • Brush College Road/Faries Parkway Grade Separation—RCE Grant Application(City of Decatur,October 2022;awarded).The City's successful federal grant application for the completed grade separation documents the scale of the public investment now in place:total project cost$69.6 million,funded through a$16 million federal Railroad Crossing Elimination grant,$28.6 million in prior National Highway Freight Program funds, $11.4 million in ICC Grade Crossing Protection Fund support,and a$1 million direct contribution from Norfolk Southern as an active participant in the project engineering. The application's benefit-cost analysis modeled the value of eliminating the crossing over a 20-year post-construction period at approximately 4 lives saved, 80 injuries avoided,and$21 million in discounted travel-time savings—a quantified baseline the merger analysis can reference in assessing whether increased NS traffic erodes the value of the completed improvement.The application also identifies the grade separation as one component of a larger, approximately$150 million multi-year Brush College Road corridor plan;the second,not-yet-built component—an overpass over an NS-owned rail yard a few blocks south—is addressed in Workstream 1 above. The application is available from the City upon request and will be provided to shortlisted proposers • FRA Grade Crossing Inventory—current at-grade crossing data for Decatur area crossings: available at saferoadways.fhwa.dot.gov • STB Waybill Sample data—carload traffic data available to parties of record through the STB discovery process;coordinate access with the City's STB legal counsel 22