(The following story by Bruce Rushton appeared on the State Journal-Register website on January 7, 2010.)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Engineers have started work on a study aimed at deciding whether rail traffic through Springfield should be consolidated along 10th Street.
“It’s off and running,” said Sangamon County administrator Brian McFadden.
Under an agreement reached last month with the Illinois Department of Transportation, the city has hired Hanson Professional Services to determine whether freight and passenger rail traffic should be moved to 10th Street or whether a parallel track should be installed on Third Street to accommodate high-speed passenger rail and additional Union Pacific Railroad trains.
The agreement calls for the state to pay for the $4 million study, and the state has already cut a check to the city for the first $400,000, said Paris Ervin, IDOT spokeswoman. Whether Hanson finishes the job probably depends on the Federal Railroad Administration, which is now considering the state’s request for $4.5 billion to build a high-speed rail link between St. Louis and Chicago that would enable passengers to make the trip in four hours or less.
If the federal government comes through with less than $1 billion, the state is under no obligation to pay for any further work. The FRA, which has $8 billion to distribute, has received requests totaling about $50 billion from various states, and when a decision will be made is anyone’s guess.
Won’t work for free
“We have nothing new to report,” said FRA spokesman Rob Kulat via e-mail. “We’re still evaluating all the applications and will make an announcement this winter.”
James Moll, project manager for Hanson, said the engineering firm won’t work for free. But the company has already met with officials from the Union Pacific and the Norfolk Southern Railroad, which operates on 10th Street. Hanson also is trying to schedule meetings with the Canadian National Railroad, which has a line along 19th Street.
Hanson has also dispatched people to count trains on the three lines over the course of two or three days.
“Tenth Street is the busiest, there’s no doubt about that,” Moll said.
In addition, engineers have begun assembling other data, including how much automobile traffic runs on streets crossing tracks, Moll said. By early February, he said, the company expects to produce a “scoping document” specifying what issues need to be addressed.
Hanson in 2005 prepared a state-funded study that recommended consolidating rail traffic along 10th Street.
“We don’t have to start from scratch,” Moll said. “We pretty much know what most of the issues are.”
Not much time
The effort probably will result in a full-blown environmental impact statement that will include a recommended alternative, a price tag and an assessment of how added trains will affect streets, historic resources and residential neighborhoods. There will be at least three public informational meetings as well as opportunities for the public to submit formal comments that will be assessed and addressed by the project team.
Despite the 2005 study, Moll said engineers have open minds.
“We are going into this thing with no preconceived notions: We are going to give this a fair study from engineering and environmental perspectives,” Moll said. “It’s very important that we take an impartial view of this thing.”
Under the agreement with the state, the study must be completed within 16 months of the FRA awarding a grant. Moll acknowledged that’s a lot of work to do in not much time.
“It’s going to be a challenge, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.