(The following story by Cindy Wojdyla Cain appeared on the Suburban Chicago News website on May 13.)
TINLEY PARK, Ill. — Canadian National Railway is getting a bum rap over its plan to acquire the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, CN spokesmen said Monday.
Opponents of the sale should look to government officials — not CN — to find blame, CN representatives said during a Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
“The real problem here is not the action of Canadian National but rather the continuing inaction of our public agencies and elected officials in solving these serious regional congestion problems,” said Jim Giblin, senior associate for Railroad Industries Inc., who spoke on CN’s behalf.
CN is trying to relieve train traffic congestion in and around Chicago, something the government has failed to do, he said.
The federal government has allotted $1 billion for rail improvements nationwide, but very little has come to Illinois, and the state’s elected officials are to blame, Giblin added.
In 1999, the Illinois Commerce Commission called for a new program to fund such projects.
“To my knowledge, our elected leaders have done virtually nothing,” Giblin said.
CN spokesman Jim Kvedaras and Giblin attended the chamber meeting to offset some misconceptions about the company and its acquisition proposal.
They said:
• By bypassing Chicago, CN would reduce train traffic in 88 heavily populated Chicago-area communities. The EJ&E lines go through 33 less-populated municipalities.
• Only 130 jobs would be lost, mostly through attrition. “We don’t see anybody walking the streets as a result of the acquisition,” Kvedaras said.
• The acquisition would not negatively affect Amtrak’s access to Union Station or Metra’s STAR Line, a proposed passenger line which would parallel the EJ&E tracks. CN has said Metra can build its own adjacent STAR line tracks. But it’s possible the passenger line could share a track, too, Kvedaras said.
CN announced in September it would pay $300 million for the railroad, which stretches from Waukegan to Gary, Ind., and passes through several Will County towns including Joliet, Plainfield, New Lenox and Frankfort. The purchase would allow CN to bypass congested Chicago-area tracks.
Stiff opposition has surfaced in towns along the route because of the projected increase in train traffic. Due to the outcry, the STB decided to do a full-blown environmental study of the sale, which will take much longer.
Bill Molony, president of the Blackhawk Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, said STB denials of such acquisitions are extremely rare; there have been only two since the agency was formed in 1999.
Also, the STB also does not have the power to order CN to pay for grade crossing improvements on public roadways, Molony explained. The company is offering to pay 10 percent, or $40 million, of the grade crossing work, which is more than fair, he added.
Monday’s Southland crowd was mostly friendly to the CN group.
“Obviously we’re a business organization, so we’re going to come right out of the gate in support of this,” said chamber board Chairman Larry Lymon. “We at this point see the benefits of it.”
But the EJ&E route bisects towns and that cause problems, he said.
“It’s a very thorny issue,” he said. “… But it’s obviously our hope that we can through a series of meetings work things out to everyone’s advantage.”