(The following report by y Lisa Smith appeared on the Daily Herald website on January 29.)
CHICAGO — A proposed ownership change of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. that would divert more freight trains to the suburbs has Kane County officials worried about traffic tie-ups around the proposed Stearns Road bridge corridor.
Members of the county board’s transportation committee expressed concerns about the Canadian National Railway Co.’s plan to acquire the EJ&E, which runs a ring around Chicago from Gary, Ind., through Lake, Cook, DuPage and Will counties, and shift freight train traffic from its tracks in Chicago to the suburban line.
Such a shift could create a bottleneck at the Stearns corridor because there is a grade-level crossing on the DuPage side of the road, committee chairman Jan Carlson said.
“It is going to cause considerable congestion,” said committee member Gerry Jones, an Aurora Democrat. The EJ&E line runs through Aurora’s far east side.
The EJ&E tracks also are intended to be a crucial part of the STAR Line, a proposed Metra rail service connecting Cook, DuPage and Will counties. County officials want to know how the proposed acquisition could affect that project.
“We’re trying to make some sense out of what all this means,” county engineer Carl Schoedel said. “At this point we have questions.”
The $300 million sale must be approved by the federal Surface Transportation Board, which is accepting public comments on the scope of the environmental impact study through the end of the week.
Overall, the proposed changes mean 34 towns along the line will see more freight trains and 80 will see fewer.
Lake Zurich, Bartlett, Barrington, Hoffman Estates and West Chicago are among the local municipalities expressing opposition to the sale.