Post by title1parent on Jun 22, 2008 7:50:47 GMT -5
Cities should get what they can in rail fight
Beacon News Opinion
June 22, 2008
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 Aurora's far eastern boundary.
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 last week's meeting of the Naperville City Council -- the latest community to join the opposition -- several council members said the city shouldn't get its hopes up too high about the objectors prevailing.
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 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.
Beacon News Opinion
June 22, 2008
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 Aurora's far eastern boundary.
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 last week's meeting of the Naperville City Council -- the latest community to join the opposition -- several council members said the city shouldn't get its hopes up too high about the objectors prevailing.
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 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.
