(The following story by Cindy Wojdyla Cain appeared at the Suburban Chicago News website on November 15.)
CHICAGO — The proposed sale of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway would mean increased train traffic, and that has some Illinois communities along the route sounding the alarm.
Traffic on Frankfort area EJ&E tracks would increase from about six trains a day to 28, said Mayor Jim Holland. That could affect motorists’ safety, tie up traffic at railroad crossings and produce more noise in residential areas.
“I can see no benefit to my constituents,” said Holland, who attended a committee of the whole meeting Wednesday to discuss the topic.
Canadian National Railway Co. announced in September that it wanted to buy the EJ&E — which runs through Plainfield, Crest Hill, Joliet, New Lenox, Frankfort and Mokena in Will County — for $300 million.
The company said it needs the tracks to detour around bottlenecks in Chicago. Traffic will increase on the U.S. Steel-owned EJ&E tracks if the deal is approved by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
Frankfort isn’t the only community concerned about increased train traffic. The city of Barrington and several surrounding communities have formed a coalition to fight the sale.
“Given that freight trains can take up to 6 minutes to pass through a single railroad crossing — even when things are running smoothly — we are looking at the potential for a traffic flow nightmare of immense proportions in our near future,” Barrington officials posted on their Web site, www.barrington-il.gov.
Holland said he has talked to the mayor of Barrington about the issue. He also has reached out to officials in the communities of New Lenox, Mokena, Matteson, Richton Park and Park Forest.
Plainfield, too, is concerned about the proposed sale’s impact to the region, said Jim Testin, Plainfield’s community development director. Village officials are reviewing CN’s application before they decide on a course of action.
“It’s just really coming to a head now,” he said.
Joliet is less concerned with increased train traffic, however, said Jim Haller, the city’s director of community and economic development. The EJ&E tracks, which run 198 miles from Waukegan in the north to Gary, Ind., and South Chicago in the east, have been in the area for more than 100 years, he said. And in past decades train traffic was much higher than it is now.
“Trains were coming in and out at all times,” he said. “My guess is it (the increase in trains) would not be as many as back then.”
Haller likened it to the fight by residents who live around O’Hare International Airport, which was there before the homes were built. He also said delays from trains chugging through Joliet wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
“It really only takes a couple of minutes,” he said. “I’m not as parochial as some of these folks who say, ‘I don’t want to be inconvenienced going to the Starbucks.'”
Also, Haller noted that a lot of goods area consumers want to purchase come in to the area by rail.
“So be careful what you wish for,” he said. “Nobody likes trucks either, but everyone likes to shop at Wal-Mart and pay pennies for items. … In an urban society, there are certain things you’re going to have to contend with.”
CN officials say rerouting its trains to the “outskirts” of Chicago will help alleviate the environmental impact on the city.
“CN is now engaged in preliminary discussions with communities on the EJ&E that would see increased rail traffic as a result of the transaction, and will work with these communities to jointly find ways of addressing any specific concerns,” according to a press release issued in October.
Frankfort’s Holland said the transportation board has 30 days after CN filed its application on Oct. 30 to decide if this is a minor railroad sale or a significant sale.
If it’s deemed a minor case, communities along the route would have only 45 days to mount arguments against the sale or for concessions in how train traffic increases will be handled, Holland said.
“We have to worry about this today, tomorrow and next week,” he said. “We have to have a plan of action and do what we can.”