Post by gatormom on Apr 20, 2008 6:33:44 GMT -5
On the wrong Track?
Beacon
Locals hope to derail sale of EJ&E line while others point to big-picture benefits
April 20, 2008
By ANDRE SALLES asalles@scn1.com
On the wrong track?
Locals hope to derail EJ&E sale
It's shaping up to be an epic battle -- the Canadian National Railway Corporation versus dozens of local municipalities, concerned about the effects of CN's proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company.
And as the saga gathers steam, it's becoming clear that it's a fight between a big-picture view of transportation and commerce, and a local focus on traffic and safety.
Last fall, CN announced plans to buy a major portion of the 198-mile EJ&E line, which runs in a semicircle through the western suburbs from Waukegan to South Chicago. The Canadian railway giant plans to divert a significant chunk of its rail traffic from Chicago, increasing the traffic on the EJ&E lines by three to four times.
The United States Steel Corporation -- which owns the EJ&E -- has agreed to sell the line at a cost of $300 million, but first, like all rail transactions, the sale must be approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
The board has launched an environmental impact study, taking comments from local municipalities and other entities. That study will take months to complete, even if the board doesn't visit the sites it's studying, as some are urging it to.
But the opposition isn't waiting around.
On April 11, a loose conglomeration of roughly 50 governmental entities met in Barrington. By the end of the meeting, they'd christened themselves The Regional Answer to Canadian National, or TRAC, and had started the process of opposing the sale in earnest.
The group grew from unofficial meetings started by DuPage County and now encompasses cities, villages, forest preserve districts, townships and park districts, all concerned about how the deal could affect their corners of the world.
Among the city of Aurora's representatives in TRAC are Aldermen Lynda Elmore and Leroy Keith. They represent the far East Side neighborhoods along the EJ&E line, and both have serious concerns about the deal.
The biggest worry, of course, is traffic -- four times as many trains means four times the likelihood that drivers will have to wait for one. Keith notes that this could be especially problematic on Ogden Avenue (Route 34), one of the most-traveled roads in the city. The most recent numbers show roughly 48,000 cars traveling over the tracks on Ogden Avenue each day.
"The EJ&E sees one train every hour and a half now," Keith said. "With this increase it will be one train every 30 minutes. And these are mile-long freight trains."
The big picture
Jim Kvedaras, CN's senior manager of U.S. public and government affairs, said that while traffic may increase in some areas around the EJ&E line, the overall effect of the deal will be a reduction in wait times across the Chicagoland area.
And though some believe that train traffic will just increase in Chicago again once the deal is done, Kvedaras said there are no plans to do so at the moment.
Chicago, he said, is a nexus point for rail lines and is perpetually snarled with train traffic. Diverting those trains from the city, according to Kvedaras, will clear up gridlock, and the more companies use trains to carry their goods, the less they will use trucks, thus clearing up the highways.
Concerns for safety
But there are other concerns for Aurora, many of which Mayor Tom Weisner enumerated in a Feb. 14 letter to the Surface Transportation Board. One of them, for instance, is the increased train traffic's impact on emergency response services -- Rush-Copley Medical Center is just west of the tracks on Ogden Avenue, and rerouting around that crossing could be dangerous in a life-or-death medical situation.
Aurora Fire Chief Tim Oelker said that is a concern, although his team is prepared for it. Ambulances and firetrucks are stationed throughout the city, and if one is caught behind a train, another can be called in to assist. But some rural areas through which the EJ&E passes are not as well-equipped.
TRAC members also are concerned about school traffic, environmental hazards, increased noise and vibration, and a greater safety risk at crossings. On that last point, Oelker said accidents at train tracks are rare -- Aurora might see two a year.
At Ogden Avenue, for instance, there have only been three accidents since 1979, and only one resulted in fatalities. But, Oelker said, with increased train traffic comes increased risk.
Canadian National officials say that the increase in train traffic through places like Aurora wouldn't even rank among the highest in the region. The CN/EJ&E line would see an average of 32 trains a day, up from an average of 12, while a city like Wheaton, for example, sees much more than that every day.
Cost to taxpayers
An increase of 20 trains is significant when it's in your neighborhood, opponents argue. William Newell, supervisor of rural Wayne Township, anticipates a tremendous impact on his communities, even though there are only a few at-grade crossings in the township. Newell believes the railroad should pay to build overpasses and underpasses for those crossings to help traffic and emergency response times.
The cost of those grade separations is immense, however. Aurora officials estimate that each one could cost between $20 million and $40 million, dollars that would come largely from federal, state and local coffers.
"You'd be putting a burden on municipalities that are financially stretched," Newell said.
Aurora's Weisner said the city has roughly $5 million in federal transportation dollars sitting idle, waiting for the state to match it. To do that, the state must pass a capital projects bill, which it hasn't done since 1999.
But Weisner is not pleased with the suggestion that the railroad would not pick up a significant portion of the costs for these improvements, should they be necessary.
"I find it convenient that everyone else but Canadian National has to put a lot of money into the deal," he said. "They have the most to gain and the least to offer."
Kvedaras notes that virtually all grade separations are paid for through partnerships with federal, state and local governments -- none are taken on by the railroad exclusively. CN has budgeted $100 million to add secondary and connective tracks to the EJ&E line and $40 million for community improvements along the line.
It's a Canadian company
Kvedaras said the railroad has met, and will continue to meet, with local governments to determine which crossings need separations and how they will be paid for. He said separations are often considered enhanced safety measures, and some of the at-grade crossings may only need more gates and bells to be considered safe.
Ironically, considering the local concerns of TRAC members, one of the big questions is international in scope -- should U.S. dollars go to help a Canadian company increase its profits?
Weisner doesn't think so.
"We need to decide whether we should be lining the pockets of a Canadian corporation which will vastly diminish the quality of life in this area," he said. "I think there's a lot more discussion to be had."
Kvedaras said the benefits to U.S. commerce are many, including the ability to move goods much more efficiently and to better compete in the world economy. And the overall good, he said, is greater. While some communities may see more trains, some will see fewer and traffic issues will decrease.
"It's a discussion of balance," he said.
The Surface Transportation Board is expected to release its scoping report, detailing the issues it will examine for its ongoing study, in a few weeks. TRAC's next meeting remains unscheduled, but its members are gathering data, hoping to be prepared for the final report, expected this year.
Beacon
Locals hope to derail sale of EJ&E line while others point to big-picture benefits
April 20, 2008
By ANDRE SALLES asalles@scn1.com
On the wrong track?
Locals hope to derail EJ&E sale
It's shaping up to be an epic battle -- the Canadian National Railway Corporation versus dozens of local municipalities, concerned about the effects of CN's proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company.
And as the saga gathers steam, it's becoming clear that it's a fight between a big-picture view of transportation and commerce, and a local focus on traffic and safety.
Last fall, CN announced plans to buy a major portion of the 198-mile EJ&E line, which runs in a semicircle through the western suburbs from Waukegan to South Chicago. The Canadian railway giant plans to divert a significant chunk of its rail traffic from Chicago, increasing the traffic on the EJ&E lines by three to four times.
The United States Steel Corporation -- which owns the EJ&E -- has agreed to sell the line at a cost of $300 million, but first, like all rail transactions, the sale must be approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
The board has launched an environmental impact study, taking comments from local municipalities and other entities. That study will take months to complete, even if the board doesn't visit the sites it's studying, as some are urging it to.
But the opposition isn't waiting around.
On April 11, a loose conglomeration of roughly 50 governmental entities met in Barrington. By the end of the meeting, they'd christened themselves The Regional Answer to Canadian National, or TRAC, and had started the process of opposing the sale in earnest.
The group grew from unofficial meetings started by DuPage County and now encompasses cities, villages, forest preserve districts, townships and park districts, all concerned about how the deal could affect their corners of the world.
Among the city of Aurora's representatives in TRAC are Aldermen Lynda Elmore and Leroy Keith. They represent the far East Side neighborhoods along the EJ&E line, and both have serious concerns about the deal.
The biggest worry, of course, is traffic -- four times as many trains means four times the likelihood that drivers will have to wait for one. Keith notes that this could be especially problematic on Ogden Avenue (Route 34), one of the most-traveled roads in the city. The most recent numbers show roughly 48,000 cars traveling over the tracks on Ogden Avenue each day.
"The EJ&E sees one train every hour and a half now," Keith said. "With this increase it will be one train every 30 minutes. And these are mile-long freight trains."
The big picture
Jim Kvedaras, CN's senior manager of U.S. public and government affairs, said that while traffic may increase in some areas around the EJ&E line, the overall effect of the deal will be a reduction in wait times across the Chicagoland area.
And though some believe that train traffic will just increase in Chicago again once the deal is done, Kvedaras said there are no plans to do so at the moment.
Chicago, he said, is a nexus point for rail lines and is perpetually snarled with train traffic. Diverting those trains from the city, according to Kvedaras, will clear up gridlock, and the more companies use trains to carry their goods, the less they will use trucks, thus clearing up the highways.
Concerns for safety
But there are other concerns for Aurora, many of which Mayor Tom Weisner enumerated in a Feb. 14 letter to the Surface Transportation Board. One of them, for instance, is the increased train traffic's impact on emergency response services -- Rush-Copley Medical Center is just west of the tracks on Ogden Avenue, and rerouting around that crossing could be dangerous in a life-or-death medical situation.
Aurora Fire Chief Tim Oelker said that is a concern, although his team is prepared for it. Ambulances and firetrucks are stationed throughout the city, and if one is caught behind a train, another can be called in to assist. But some rural areas through which the EJ&E passes are not as well-equipped.
TRAC members also are concerned about school traffic, environmental hazards, increased noise and vibration, and a greater safety risk at crossings. On that last point, Oelker said accidents at train tracks are rare -- Aurora might see two a year.
At Ogden Avenue, for instance, there have only been three accidents since 1979, and only one resulted in fatalities. But, Oelker said, with increased train traffic comes increased risk.
Canadian National officials say that the increase in train traffic through places like Aurora wouldn't even rank among the highest in the region. The CN/EJ&E line would see an average of 32 trains a day, up from an average of 12, while a city like Wheaton, for example, sees much more than that every day.
Cost to taxpayers
An increase of 20 trains is significant when it's in your neighborhood, opponents argue. William Newell, supervisor of rural Wayne Township, anticipates a tremendous impact on his communities, even though there are only a few at-grade crossings in the township. Newell believes the railroad should pay to build overpasses and underpasses for those crossings to help traffic and emergency response times.
The cost of those grade separations is immense, however. Aurora officials estimate that each one could cost between $20 million and $40 million, dollars that would come largely from federal, state and local coffers.
"You'd be putting a burden on municipalities that are financially stretched," Newell said.
Aurora's Weisner said the city has roughly $5 million in federal transportation dollars sitting idle, waiting for the state to match it. To do that, the state must pass a capital projects bill, which it hasn't done since 1999.
But Weisner is not pleased with the suggestion that the railroad would not pick up a significant portion of the costs for these improvements, should they be necessary.
"I find it convenient that everyone else but Canadian National has to put a lot of money into the deal," he said. "They have the most to gain and the least to offer."
Kvedaras notes that virtually all grade separations are paid for through partnerships with federal, state and local governments -- none are taken on by the railroad exclusively. CN has budgeted $100 million to add secondary and connective tracks to the EJ&E line and $40 million for community improvements along the line.
It's a Canadian company
Kvedaras said the railroad has met, and will continue to meet, with local governments to determine which crossings need separations and how they will be paid for. He said separations are often considered enhanced safety measures, and some of the at-grade crossings may only need more gates and bells to be considered safe.
Ironically, considering the local concerns of TRAC members, one of the big questions is international in scope -- should U.S. dollars go to help a Canadian company increase its profits?
Weisner doesn't think so.
"We need to decide whether we should be lining the pockets of a Canadian corporation which will vastly diminish the quality of life in this area," he said. "I think there's a lot more discussion to be had."
Kvedaras said the benefits to U.S. commerce are many, including the ability to move goods much more efficiently and to better compete in the world economy. And the overall good, he said, is greater. While some communities may see more trains, some will see fewer and traffic issues will decrease.
"It's a discussion of balance," he said.
The Surface Transportation Board is expected to release its scoping report, detailing the issues it will examine for its ongoing study, in a few weeks. TRAC's next meeting remains unscheduled, but its members are gathering data, hoping to be prepared for the final report, expected this year.