(The following story by David Gialanella appeared on The Courier News website on September 17.)
CHICAGOA — The battle over the Canadian National Railway’s possible acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway rages on with the DuPage County Forest Preserve District claiming they’ve been misinterpreted by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
In a recent news release, district officials said the STB’s draft environmental impact statement was erroneous in stating that the district suggested a proposed connection for Pratt’s Wayne Woods Forest Preserve be moved west of the park, at the Union Pacific Belvidere Subdivision line.
Canadian National had offered to purchase about one acre of Pratt’s Wayne Woods to use for a rail connection, according to the release. Officials refused the deal, said District President D. “Dewey” Pierotti.
“By law, we can’t do that,” he said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “We couldn’t sell it to them if we wanted to. We initially took that legal position.”
Pierotti said the STB’s statement implied that the district had reached some sort of agreement with CN, which was not the case. The district also never proposed that CN move the connection further west, he said.
After the land sale was rejected, CN proposed keeping the improvement — at the Munger Connection — within the railway and ComEd right of way, off district property.
Pierotti said local and county officials have urged the district to join them in the acquisition opposition based on safety factors, but district officials have resisted doing so, per se.
“We took the position that our specialty is the environmental concerns,” Pierotti said. “We’re concentrating on that.”
Still, the district has taken a general position on the matter, Pierotti said.
“We have to oppose it right now,” he said. “They haven’t really addressed the concerns that we have.”
May residents have voiced concerns at public forums that the acquisition would mean dozens more trains per day along the EJ&E line through communities like Bartlett and West Chicago, where emergency services potentially could be cut off. The STB has to approve the transaction for it to go through.
Grade separations at 15 or more road-rail crossings throughout the region could cost $1 billion or more, according to some estimates.
Other individuals and groups have pointed out the potential environmental impact of more train traffic, such as the possibility of a hazardous material spill that could contaminate ground water. CN officials have said the railway will be safe.