(The following story by Dan Campana appeared on the Suburban Chicago News website on August 13.)
CHICAGO — Ed Frank spent 37 years working on the railroad, train crossings in particular.
“I’ve seen about every kind of railway thing you can experience,” the 87-year-old Auroran said recently.
Among his roles, Frank did surveys and traffic counts to place and remove crossings as a construction and field engineer for the Burlington railway.
It’s that perspective that prompts him to say area residents need to look a bit deeper before panning Canadian National’s proposal to buy the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway line. He recognizes people are hung up on the increase in freight traffic through Aurora’s far East Side and what that means to traffic congestion, but says a longer view is needed.
“It’s all for the future,” he said recently. “You better start now because it’s going to cost more in the future.”
For all that’s been said about a potential railroad merger, you might not have thought about things the way Frank and Jim Davidson, a train enthusiast from North Aurora, do. Beyond the headlines and the rallies decrying CN’s plans, this pair of longtime area residents aren’t convinced the situation is as bad as it’s been made out to be. Both bemoan what they say is CN being painted the enemy for doing business, with Davidson going as far as to say the bluster would be far less if domestically owned Union Pacific proposed it.
“The benefits outweigh the negatives,” Davidson offered.
Federal officials recently released a draft analysis of CN’s proposal to buy 198 miles of EJ&E tracks from northwest Indiana to Chicago’s northern suburbs. CN contends moving trains in a circular route outside Chicago will help reduce overall congestion and accidents on all its tracks in northeastern Illinois. Officials in towns most affected by the proposal have scoffed at CN’s expectations and argue the railroad would need to make serious financial commitments to mitigate the impact of four times as many freight trains rolling through.
Davidson has been an enthusiast and model train collector since his parents bought him his first set in the early 1950s. He thinks too much has been made of the “not in my backyard” arguments against CN because everyone benefits from things transported by freight trains.
“It’s faster and more efficient. It’s better for the economy,” Davidson said of the circular route.
His mixed emotions about the potential sale come from the loss of another railroad company. Like a baseball fan could rattle off the name of defunct teams, Davidson goes through a litany of train companies that have disappeared over the years. He says the United States once had 140 Class 1 railroads, a number that’s diminished to seven.
“People who are rail fans hate to see railroads go away,” he said. “I’ve been a rail fan my whole life.”
Davidson says more freight trains is akin to the increased number of cars on the road over the years, a point he makes by recalling the days when one could drive from Aurora to Elgin on Randall Road in less than 20 minutes. As a train buff, he acknowledges he wouldn’t mind watching a longer train pass through an at-grade crossing.
Although Frank’s work experience with CN was limited to an assignment in the mid-1960s, he considers it a decent company not bent on destroying the suburban way of life.
To that extent, he and Davidson agree CN should kick in a greater than usual amount to cover mitigation costs, which could reach $100 million to separate crossings from roadways in Aurora alone.
“(The towns) should try to get all they can out of CN,” Frank offered.