Post by title1parent on Jun 19, 2008 6:32:26 GMT -5
The light at the end of the EJ&E tunnel is a long train
June 19, 2008 SUN OPINION
The proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway by Canadian National has been a bitter pill to swallow for western suburban residents and local politicians.
While the purchase will certainly help CN move its freight trains more readily to and from Chicago, it seems certain to greatly increase traffic congestion and noise here. Estimates are that CN's plans triple the number of freight trains using the EJ&E tracks, and to put trains that are up to two miles - yes, that's two miles - long on those tracks.
Cities affected are virtually any in northern Illinois that have EJ&E tracks running through or alongside them. The 198-mile line runs from Waukegan to the western suburbs and then to near the Indiana border before turning north to Chicago's Loop. Here, the tracks run along Naperville's western boundary and only three intersections are directly affected - 103rd Street, Diehl Road and Ogden Avenue, and although Ogden Avenue continues in Aurora at that point, traffic back-ups would affect Naperville.
THE ISSUE: Trying not to get railroaded by the Canadian National is an uphill battle at best, even when local governments band together.
OUR VIEW: Maybe those area officials would be best, while still sticking together, to work hard to get overpasses, underpasses and noise barriers funded by the federal government and the railroad.
Other communities have more grade crossings. Plainfield, with 15 for instance, would be more seriously affected.
For CN the $300 million it plans to spend on EJ&E to ease congestion and improve its freight shipping times is just a drop in the bucket compared to similar needs throughout the freight train network in the United States. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that, during the next 30 years, the U.S. rail system needs some $148 billion in improvements to expand the capacity of a growing system.
Increasingly, America's goods are moving by freight over a 140,000-mile network of tracks that is becoming overburdened. And about 40 percent of all U.S. freight goes through Chicago, on some 180,000 trains a year.
Given that scenario, it seems unlikely that the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, which must approve the sale, is going to tell CN it can't buy the EJ&E. The board is charged with looking out for the interests of moving freight on trains, not easing congestion and noise, and of the last 254 possible sales before it, the board ultimately approved 253 of the purchases.
Locally, even though 50 governmental bodies in northern Illinois have banded together to oppose the sale, or at the very least get CN to kick in many millions of dollars to make it more palatable to the cities by building overpasses or underpasses, it's not very likely that all this protest is going to cause the board to prevent the sale or even get the reluctant railroad to spend money on grade crossings.
At Tuesday night's Naperville City Council meeting, several council members said the city shouldn't get its hopes up too high about the objectors prevailing.
Councilman James Boyajian was realistic when he said, "We are swimming upstream in terms of commerce given the economic conditions we are under. There is going to be compelling pressure to approve this (acquisition) ... I hope we are opposing it to make this more palatable, including the at-grade crossings. To simply say that we are against this would not be productive."
Though Naperville has joined local governments protesting the sale, Boyajian is correct in terming it an uphill fight.
Unfortunately, even though emergency service providers will be hindered while trying to cross tracks blocked by a two-mile long train, the shattering of what little suburban peace and quiet remains and increased traffic congestion in general, it seems more likely that the nation's overall freight transportation needs will, and perhaps should, trump local concerns.
Given that, the cities might be well-advised to hit both CN and the federal government as hard as they can not to stop the project, but rather to get overpasses, underpasses and noise barriers as their part of the deal.
June 19, 2008 SUN OPINION
The proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway by Canadian National has been a bitter pill to swallow for western suburban residents and local politicians.
While the purchase will certainly help CN move its freight trains more readily to and from Chicago, it seems certain to greatly increase traffic congestion and noise here. Estimates are that CN's plans triple the number of freight trains using the EJ&E tracks, and to put trains that are up to two miles - yes, that's two miles - long on those tracks.
Cities affected are virtually any in northern Illinois that have EJ&E tracks running through or alongside them. The 198-mile line runs from Waukegan to the western suburbs and then to near the Indiana border before turning north to Chicago's Loop. Here, the tracks run along Naperville's western boundary and only three intersections are directly affected - 103rd Street, Diehl Road and Ogden Avenue, and although Ogden Avenue continues in Aurora at that point, traffic back-ups would affect Naperville.
THE ISSUE: Trying not to get railroaded by the Canadian National is an uphill battle at best, even when local governments band together.
OUR VIEW: Maybe those area officials would be best, while still sticking together, to work hard to get overpasses, underpasses and noise barriers funded by the federal government and the railroad.
Other communities have more grade crossings. Plainfield, with 15 for instance, would be more seriously affected.
For CN the $300 million it plans to spend on EJ&E to ease congestion and improve its freight shipping times is just a drop in the bucket compared to similar needs throughout the freight train network in the United States. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that, during the next 30 years, the U.S. rail system needs some $148 billion in improvements to expand the capacity of a growing system.
Increasingly, America's goods are moving by freight over a 140,000-mile network of tracks that is becoming overburdened. And about 40 percent of all U.S. freight goes through Chicago, on some 180,000 trains a year.
Given that scenario, it seems unlikely that the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, which must approve the sale, is going to tell CN it can't buy the EJ&E. The board is charged with looking out for the interests of moving freight on trains, not easing congestion and noise, and of the last 254 possible sales before it, the board ultimately approved 253 of the purchases.
Locally, even though 50 governmental bodies in northern Illinois have banded together to oppose the sale, or at the very least get CN to kick in many millions of dollars to make it more palatable to the cities by building overpasses or underpasses, it's not very likely that all this protest is going to cause the board to prevent the sale or even get the reluctant railroad to spend money on grade crossings.
At Tuesday night's Naperville City Council meeting, several council members said the city shouldn't get its hopes up too high about the objectors prevailing.
Councilman James Boyajian was realistic when he said, "We are swimming upstream in terms of commerce given the economic conditions we are under. There is going to be compelling pressure to approve this (acquisition) ... I hope we are opposing it to make this more palatable, including the at-grade crossings. To simply say that we are against this would not be productive."
Though Naperville has joined local governments protesting the sale, Boyajian is correct in terming it an uphill fight.
Unfortunately, even though emergency service providers will be hindered while trying to cross tracks blocked by a two-mile long train, the shattering of what little suburban peace and quiet remains and increased traffic congestion in general, it seems more likely that the nation's overall freight transportation needs will, and perhaps should, trump local concerns.
Given that, the cities might be well-advised to hit both CN and the federal government as hard as they can not to stop the project, but rather to get overpasses, underpasses and noise barriers as their part of the deal.