(The Kane County Chronicle posted the following story by Dan Chanzit on its website on September 24.)
ELBURN, Ill. — Metra will work with the Illinois Commerce Commission to install video cameras downtown so trains will not need to blare their whistles when passing through.
Metra agreed to work toward placing the cameras at First Street and Route 47 as part of its annexation agreement.
The village is expected to approve Metra’s annexation agreement Oct. 6. Trustees also are expected to create a passenger rail service district, a new designation created to zone the Metra property.
“I think it’s done,” Trustee Craig Swan said. “We need to move it forward and get it done.”
State and federal law requires train operators to sound their horns at crossings to warn motorists and pedestrians. Video cameras would allow conductors to see that crossings are clear, Metra officials said.
Installing cameras in Elburn is subject to ICC approval, but doing so would turn the village into a “quiet zone” on the Union Pacific West Line extension.
Village officials discussed the final details of Metra’s annexation agreement this week. Earlier this month, Metra earned approval from the village’s planning commission.
The Elburn Metra station will replace Geneva as the last stop on the Union Pacific West Line. It will be on 50 acres west of Blackberry Creek and north of Keslinger Road.
The property will include a 300-space parking lot, coachyard and warming house.
The annexation agreement bars Metra from using the coachyard to store freight trains. The coachyard will be used to store commuter trains instead, and train operators will turn off the engines at night.
Still under discussion is the future extension of Anderson Road and a bridge over the train tracks.
Building the extension will require an intergovernmental agreement between the village and Kane County. It is unclear who will maintain and own the bridge.
“That is still under negotiation,” Village administrator David Morrison said.
The proposed four-lane road would connect Route 38 and Keslinger Road.
“I imagine that it will be a heavily used road,” trustee Bill Grabarek said.
Village President James Willey said construction will not move forward until federal funding is obtained.
“We are the mercy of the federal situation here,” Willey said. “This is a bridge that’s wanted. This is a bridge that people desire, not one that people oppose. I hope that is a factor (in the funding decision).”