Is a suburban reroute the answer for rail congesti

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Is a suburban reroute the answer for rail congestion?

June 8, 2008

By ANDRE SALLES [e-mail]
What's the answer for unsnarling rail congestion in the Chicago area?

Canadian National Railway Corporation believes one solution is to let it buy tracks outside of Chicago and reroute train traffic around the city.

But the company's choice of an alternate route has drawn controversy. Canadian National plans to buy a major portion of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company's 198-mile line, which runs in a semicircle through the western suburbs, from northeastern Indiana to Joliet, up through Plainfield and Naperville, and Aurora and Elgin.

The United States Steel Corporation, which owns the EJ&E, has agreed to sell the line for $300 million. But the plan has drawn fire from Aurora, Naperville, Barrington and other communities, since the number of lengthy freight trains traveling those suburban lines would, in some cases, quadruple.
Opponents of the sale from roughly 50 governmental entities have banded together, calling themselves The Regional Answer to Canadian National, or TRAC. The group is in the process of researching the potential impacts of the sale, which they believe will be detrimental to traffic, safety and the environment, as well as increasing noise and commotion through quiet suburban areas.

But Canadian National representatives argue that while some communities may be inconvenienced, the regional benefits outweigh the local concerns. The overall effect of the deal will be a reduction in wait times across the Chicago area, CN says -- the more companies use trains to carry their goods, the less they will use trucks, thus clearing up the highways.

Before the sale can move forward, the federal Surface Transportation Board must approve it. The board is in the midst of an environmental impact study, looking at the possible effects of the sale on local communities. In April, the board issued its scoping report, detailing the issues its study will encompass.

Canadian National has requested a set timeline for that study, hoping to have it wrapped up by Dec. 1. The board has not yet responded to this request.

Comment at beaconnewsonline.com

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A wreck waiting to happen

June 8, 2008

By Michael Tarm The Associated Press
CHICAGO -- Railway executive Matthew Rose stood before fellow industry leaders, pointing to a map meant to tell the future of the U.S. rail freight network. It was drenched in red -- east to west, north to south.

The blotches illustrated areas where, by 2035, traffic jams could be so severe trains would grind to a halt for days.

"For those of you who've ever seen a good rail meltdown, this is what it looks like," said Rose, CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., as the crowded hall shifted uncomfortably in chairs. "It's literally chaos in the supply chain."

Facts on rail freight

• Trains today move more than 2 billion tons of freight a year on 140,000 miles of track, almost all of it privately owned and maintained.


• Coal accounts for more than 40 percent of all freight transported by train.


• An average freight train has about 70 cars and carries more than 3,000 tons of freight.


• Railway companies employ almost 200,000 people; the average salary is about $70,000.


• Texas has the largest number of rail freight workers, about 17,000, followed by Illinois, which employs about 13,000.


• Nine companies account for more than 90 percent of all North American railway revenue, or more than $50 billion. The largest are the Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX Transportation and Canadian National Railway.

Sources: Federal agencies, Association of American Railroads.

While the nation's attention is focused on air travel congestion and the high cost of fuel for highway driving, a crisis is developing under the radar for another form of transportation -- freight trains used to deliver many of the goods keeping the economy humming.
The nation's 140,000-mile network of rails devoted to carrying everything from cars to grain by freight is already groaning under the strain of congestion.

And it's probably going to get worse during the next two decades, according to an analysis of government and industry projections by The Associated Press and interviews with experts.

The damage to the U.S. economy could climb into the billions of dollars. Higher shipping costs would raise prices for everything from lumber to grain. One analyst said the rail crunch could add thousands of dollars to a car.

"It's not rocket science to see we have a calamity coming down the road," said Paul Bingham, a transportation analyst at research firm Global Insight.

Congestion around the country has remained chronic, even as the ailing economy has led to a 3 percent dip in freight train traffic in the first few months of this year compared with last year. And a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report warns demand for freight trains is expected to double during the next 25 years.

The problem is that there's no room.

"Even if the estimates are half wrong, we can't put even 25 percent more freight in the system right now without serious implications," said Randy Mullett, an analyst for the nonprofit Transportation Research Board.


Trouble ahead?

Already, delays hamper the existing rail freight network. One train stopped in Chicago can force other trains to stop or slow as far away as L.A. or Baltimore.
"It's a ripple effect," said Scott Haas, a vice president for United Parcel Service, which uses 3,000 freight cars every day, more than any other U.S. business. "Everything in my system backs up."

Atlanta-based UPS hasn't determined the total cost of freight route congestion, but says that just five minutes of daily delays for each of its drivers amounts to $100 million in company losses a year.

Other modes of transport can't take up the slack: Trucking faces its own congestion problems, a shortage of drivers and high fuel prices. Ships and barges can't reach large parts of the country. Airplanes couldn't begin to carry the millions of tons of coal, waste, chemicals, grain and cars hauled by trains. And hauling freight by rail is far more fuel-efficient.

Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said during a recent congressional hearing on congested freight routes that "we're heading toward fourth-world infrastructure."

Others suggest the railroads are being alarmist.

Kenneth Kremar, another Global Insight analyst, said talk of a looming crisis serves industry interests as rail companies jockey for more money from Congress. He said investment in larger, high-tech train cars and computer systems that better pace trains should help avert logjams.

"It's illogical to assume nothing will be done," he said. "Railroads have an inherent interest in doing something. There's no reason to think they're headed for the abyss."


Over capacity

Amtrak, which shares the rails with freight trains, is also feeling the pinch. Its long-distance trains were on time just 42 percent of the time last year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general.
The problem on the shared tracks has worsened in recent years as freight traffic has soared. Passenger trains move much faster than most freights, and in many areas there is only a single track, forcing trains to pull over on side tracks and wait while trains coming in the other direction pass.

A solution won't come cheap.

The chamber says expanding capacity on the more than 150-year-old rail system would cost $148 billion over 30 years. Private companies would have to pay most of it, with federal and state tax dollars covering much of the rest.


Choking point

Any solution will have to include Chicago -- which handles about 40 percent of all U.S. rail freight on 180,000 trains a year. And where it can take two days for trains to wind through the city.
Expanding capacity here will cost $1.5 billion over six years, a group of officials and rail executives estimates. David Burns, an independent railroad engineering consultant in the Chicago area, put the cost close to $4 billion.

Almost all the major routes of the web-like rail freight system comes through one or more of the nearly 80 rail yards here. It's why a single delayed train here can force those thousands of miles away to stop or slow down.

The problem is that the Chicago hub was designed in the mid-1800s, when the area was a comparative backwater of 30,000. Now, 10 million residents sprawl into former rural areas where trains once rolled freely.

The 500 freight trains moving through Chicago each day also have to share tracks with -- and yield to, according to protocol -- 700 daily commuter trains -- including those on the Burlington line that runs from Aurora to Chicago. In contrast, commuter trains in New York City don't share lines with freight.


Hard choices

Proposed solutions include building new overpasses to keep trains moving at track intersections. Elsewhere, single-line tracks could be expanded to double or triple. And some advocates want to restore tracks that fell out of use in the 20th century.
Expanding capacity to route trains around clogged cities may not sit well with suburban and exurban towns.

Recently, Canadian National has made a bid to buy the EJ&E lines with grousing from towns all over the Chicago area, including Aurora and Naperville, where more than a dozen intersections cross those tracks. Freight train traffic also could increase to more than 42 a day from an average of 15.7. But CN says the move is necessary to help congestion.

And then there's Amtrak. It already operates on tracks owned by the big railroads, which will be increasingly reluctant to make concessions to passenger trains.


Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Facts on rail freight

• Trains today move more than 2 billion tons of freight a year on 140,000 miles of track, almost all of it privately owned and maintained.


• Coal accounts for more than 40 percent of all freight transported by train.


• An average freight train has about 70 cars and carries more than 3,000 tons of freight.


• Railway companies employ almost 200,000 people; the average salary is about $70,000.


• Texas has the largest number of rail freight workers, about 17,000, followed by Illinois, which employs about 13,000.


• Nine companies account for more than 90 percent of all North American railway revenue, or more than $50 billion. The largest are the Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX Transportation and Canadian National Railway.

Sources: Federal agencies, Association of American Railroads.