(The following story by Stewart Warren appeared on the Southtown Star website on March 26.)
CHICAGO — The Will County Board is against the Canadian National Railway’s purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad.
And it wants everyone to know it.
CN wants to buy the 198-mile EJ&E line so it can route trains away from Chicago.
The 198-mile EJ&E owns train tracks stretching from Waukegan to Gary, Ind., and passing through several Will County towns including Joliet and Frankfort. But the U.S. Surface Transportation Board must approve the sale before it can happen.
Will County residents have worried about the sale, citing increased train traffic, the accompanying traffic tie-ups on area roads, the county’s many at-grade rail crossings and the transportation of hazardous materials, among other things.
So the surface transportation board is doing an environmental study to determine how the sale might affect the communities surrounding the EJ&E’s tracks.
During their regular meeting Thursday, Will County Board members voted to approve a resolution opposing the transaction. That’s a distinct change. During earlier meetings, the members seemed concerned about the sale but reluctant to fight it.
“(Board members thought) we may as well just go along with it and ask the CN for what we need,” said board chairman Jim Moustis (R-Frankfort.)
But after a meeting with representatives from DuPage, Cook, Lake and other counties who also object to the sale, the Will County contingent had a change of heart.
The CN won’t pay for expensive infrastructure improvements such as viaducts to solve the problems posed by increased train traffic, Moustis said.
And the company hasn’t explained how the sale could affect Metra’s proposed STAR passenger line or some Amtrak service, he added.
“Let’s give a firm ‘no,’ ” Moustis said.