(The following story by Kim Smith and Janet Lundquist appeared on the Southtown Star website on February 3, 2009.)
CHICAGO — The Canadian National Railway has closed on its purchase of the EJ&E Railroad, but it could be quite a while before more freight trains actually roll on the EJ&E tracks that encircle the Chicago area.
Still, Will County officials and those of some municipalities along the EJ&E line aren’t giving up their fight against CN’s plan to route many more freight trains onto those tracks.
“We plan to join Will County and plan to file an appeal,” New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann said. “This plan is not good for the people of New Lenox. The process can take a long time.”
Baldermann, Will County Executive Larry Walsh and Will County Board chairman Jim Moustis (R-Frankfort) issued a statement Monday on why they believe opposing the plan is worthwhile. The last day to file an appeal with the courts is Feb. 23.
CN officials on Monday began notifying areas along its newly acquired tracks that four to six more trains are expected to begin rolling through beginning March 4.
It’s the first step in what CN officials are calling a three-year process to shift their trains from the clogged Chicago rail system onto the EJ&E line to move trains more quickly through the region. Legal notices appeared in some newspapers, and signs were posted Monday at crossings affected by those trains.
On Dec. 24, the U.S. Surface Transportation Board approved the $300 million sale of the EJ&E to CN in a move that many Will County officials say ignored strong objections from local communities.
The 198-mile EJ&E line runs from Gary to Waukegan and goes through Chicago Heights, Park Forest, Matteson, Frankfort, Mokena and New Lenox in the Southland.
The Surface Transportation Board’s environmental impact study of the rail merger “made assumptions instead of conducting the requisite surveys” and did not properly explore “meaningful mitigation of environmental consequences in Will County,” according to the three officials’ statement.
It says the federal board agreed that greater use of the EJ&E line would have adverse environmental consequences for towns along the line but concluded that would be offset “in part by environmental benefits from the resulting reduction in rail traffic on CN’s own lines – in Chicago! Worse still, the STB further admitted that even this benefit to Chicagoans may be ‘short lived’ if CN then reroutes other rail traffic through Chicago.”
The statement said the CN plan will increase rail traffic by more than 400 percent and will transport 700 percent more hazardous material through Will County.
“There’s a lack of information on what level and type of hazardous materials will be traveling through the area,” according to the statement, which also cites a Jan. 17 CN derailment in the north suburbs that involved hazardous material and forced about 5,000 frustrated Metra riders to find other ways to get to work.
Also Monday, E. Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive officer of CN, released an open letter to residents of communities along the EJ&E line, saying the merger will relieve Chicago-area rail congestion and bring economic benefits to the region.
“We at CN also recognize this transaction will result in increased traffic on the EJ&E, raising environmental issues in some suburban communities along the line,” Harrison says in the letter. “… We intend to let our actions earn (residents’) respect and confidence.”
CN vice president Karen Phillips said the railroad also plans to appoint a community liaison officer, who will keep local towns up to speed on new developments along the tracks.