(The following story by Becky Malkovich appeared on The Southern website on January 25.)
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Amtrak travel time between Southern Illinois and Chicago could increase or cease all together if the Surface Transportation Board approves one railway’s planned merger.
CN railway company wants to acquire the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway as a means of bypassing severe train congestion in Chicago, congestion that causes their trains to idle for hours, wasting fuel and time as they attempt to cross the city.
If the merger is approved, CN would reroute its trains over EJ&E lines and eliminate all its operations on an 11-mile stretch of track north of Interstate 90, the same stretch of rails used by Amtrak to reach Chicago’s Union Station.
CN would also “formally abandon” the track, opening it up for development.
If that is allowed to happen unconditionally, Amtrak officials warn, the 400,000-plus Amtrak passengers who use the service annually could face lengthy delays or see service to downstate grind to a halt.
“Amtrak has studied other potential alternate routes, but they are all more circuitous; already crowded with commuter and or freight trains; and would require Amtrak trains to operate over a gauntlet of rail lines dispatched by multiple railroads, ensuring frequent delays,” an Amtrak talking points memo said. “Spending public money to upgrade these alternate routes would not produce improved Amtrak service; train schedules would be considerably longer and delays would be much more frequent and lengthy than even on the current route.”
However, Gordon Trafton, senior vice president of CN’s southern region, said the assumption that passenger rail service between Chicago and Southern Illinois would deteriorate can’t be made.
“By Amtrak’s own numbers, the City of New Orleans train operated on CN’s lines and has been one of Amtrak’s best-performing long distance trains, if not the best,” he said. “There are alternative routes available to Amtrak for reaching Union Station in Chicago. In fact, the Chicago Planning Group, which is comprised of representatives from railroads operating in Chicago developed a list of alternative routes for Amtrak in reaching Chicago’s Union Station.”
Trafton said the bottom line is that Chicago has a railroad congestion problem that civic and business leaders agree must be addressed for the sustained health of the regional economy.
“The Chicago area may be known as the transportation hub of North America, but these days it can take a freight train more than 24 hours to travel 30 miles through the city. Using the EJ&E will allow CN freight trains passing through Chicago to keep moving around the metropolitan area, avoiding that bottleneck,” he said.
Kevin Baity, Carbondale’s assistant city manager for economic development, said the service is important to the city, especially its student and business populations.
In fact, he said, ridership on the trains has increased an average of 7 or 8 percent each year since 2004 and jumped by 17 percent from 2006 to 2007. An average of 250 people hop on or off board Amtrak trains at the Carbondale station each day.
Easy access to train travel is important, especially given the increasing costs of gasoline and traffic congestion in Chicago.
Baity said the city has filed a motion with the STB to be a “party of interest” and is requesting a local public hearing on the matter before the STB makes any decision.
Amtrak would like to see a new route created by building a connection from CN to a Norfolk Southern Railway line at Grand Crossing near Chicago’s 75th Street. However, that could take years and is not funded.
Another option would be approving the acquisition on the condition that CN preserve the current route used by Amtrak at no additional cost to Amtrak or the state, until the Grand Crossing route can be constructed.
Du Quoin Mayor John Rednour, whose city has an Amtrak station, said the city would likely join in with Carbondale’s efforts.
“I hope something can be worked out. Amtrak is very important to the area,” he said.
He said the passenger rail service could ill afford the delays that could take place.
Rednour frequently takes Amtrak when traveling to and from Chicago, but is already frustrated by delays that can cause the trains to reach their destinations up to two hours late.
“Amtrak is very important to a lot of people in the area, but if you’re going for business and don’t know whether you are going to make your appointment or arrive three hours late, you may as well drive,” Rednour said. “I don’t think Amtrak can take on any more delays in service than there already are.”