(The following editorial appeared on the Daily Herald website on December 19.)
CHICAGO — The underused Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. has a suitor, flush with cash and willing to help fix the freight gridlock afflicting Chicago and the Midwest.
So what do Illinoisans do when they hear the Canadian National Railway wants to buy the EJ&E? They complain. About traffic impediments. About inconvenience. About noise. About how it might affect the STAR commuter rail line. This is not leadership. It’s wailing at the exclusion of good sense.
“This is a privately funded resolution of a regional congestion,” CN spokesman Jim Kvedaras said. And therefore a resolution beneficial to all in the metro area.
Let’s accept reality here. CN estimates 34 municipalities would have more trains, but 80 would have fewer. And no municipal leader can stop this sale if it moves forward, no matter how loud they complain about too many at-grade crossings or train whistles.
“This could snarl traffic and cause safety issues,” DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom said.
Indeed it could. Which is why we can only hope it is surprise that keeps area leaders from rushing to Canadian Northern, which obviously has plenty of cash, with plans and proposals for above- or below-grade crossings at the busiest or most dangerous intersections of locomotives and cars. Growth outstripped the modernity of rail crossings in the metro area decades ago and this could be just the chance to fix some of them. At the very least, leaders could attempt to cut deals to stop late-night whistles or promote safer crossings.
Metra’s STAR commuter line would run from O’Hare Airport west along I-90 before turning south between Elgin and Hoffman Estates and running along the EJ&E line to DuPage County. It would be a real boon to commuter rail service in the suburbs. But, yes, the STAR plan indeed may need to be altered as a result of Canadian Northern’s plan to step up freight use of that line if it consummates the $300 million purchase from U.S. Steel.
CN already has offered to allow Metra to build the STAR line on its right of way, but if STAR proponents don’t see this as opportunity, they aren’t thinking straight. Like everything in Illinois, STAR funding has always been vague. So why shouldn’t supporters beat a path to CN’s door with plans for an ultra-modern train scheduling system that would allow freight and commuters to run on a unified line with shared costs? Or lobbying it to become an integral part of STAR henceforth?
It is possible, of course, that CN won’t be interested in modernizing grade crossings or being part of a major commuter rail project. But it’s just as possible it could be interested in any worthwhile projects that support its primary interest — healthy, efficient railroads.
Far better to ask than to whine as a transportation opportunity whizzes past.