(The following story by Cindy Wojdyla Cain appeared on the Suburban Chicago News website on March 5.)
CHICAGO — Little progress was made Wednesday during a meeting designed to air concerns over the proposed sale of the Elgin Joliet & Eastern Railroad to Canadian National.
“We didn’t get very far,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said during a conference call with reporters.
Durbin and U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, met with H. Hunter Harrison, CEO of Canadian National. CN wants to buy the 198-mile EJ&E line so it can reroute its trains around congested tracks in Chicago. The 198-mile EJ&E stretches from Waukegan to Gary, Ind., and passes through several towns in Will County including Joliet and Frankfort.
During the meeting Durbin and Bean told Harrison they want to know:
— Who will pay for grade crossing improvements to mitigate a 400 percent increase in freight traffic for the suburbs along the EJ&E tracks?
— How the acquisition will affect Metra’s proposed STAR Line, a passenger rail line that would loop around Chicago and use some of the EJ&E right of way?
— What is CN doing to make sure Amtrak will be able to provide service to Champaign and Carbondale on tracks CN plans to abandon?
Durbin said progress has been made on only the third issue raised. Harrison said CN is negotiating with Amtrak to allow the line to continue using the EJ&E tracks and capping maintenance costs the passenger rail line would have to pay.
Though few answers were provided at Wednesday’s meeting, Harrison agreed to have a public town hall meeting to address some of the concerns in more detail, Durbin said.
Durbin said relatively new intermodals in Elwood and Rochelle have alleviated some of the freight train traffic that previously had gone through the Chicago area. He said he suggested to Harrison that perhaps CN could look for a more rural area to shift its freight train traffic to.
Currently the U.S. Surface Transportation Board is studying the proposed acquisition. After communities along the line protested the sale and the negative impacts, the STB agreed to conduct a full environmental impact study on the sale.
CN officials couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. But in a press release issued last week, the company said it wants to purchase the line to reduce freight congestion in the Chicago area. The plan would also reduce fuel consumption and train emissions.
All of the concerns raised by Durbin and Bean will be addressed by the STB during its process, the CN release continued.