CN rail deal OK'd; opponent vow to
keep fighting
By Marni
Pyke and Nadia Malik | Daily Herald Staff
The sale of a train line that will affect rail traffic
levels throughout the Chicago region got the final green light from federal
regulators Wednesday - but suburban opponents vow to keep fighting it.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board unanimously approved
the acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway line - which runs in
an arc through around Chicago, from Waukegan to Gary, Ind. - by the Canadian
National Railway Co.
The decision comes before a Dec. 31 deadline for the merger
and goes into effect Jan. 23.
The board said the merger was a major step toward
alleviating train congestion in the Chicago area. But the plan has drawn strong
opposition from towns along the EJ&E like Barrington, West Chicago and
Hawthorn Woods that will see more train traffic as a result.
Barrington alone has spent thousands of dollars fighting the
proposal because of the extra freight traffic it will bring through town.
"Apparently, Scrooge got appointed to the STB,"
Hawthorn Woods Mayor Keith Hunt said. "It's really unfortunate that they
couldn't have seen their way to consider what's in the best interest of area
residents, rather than just simply acting as a rubber stamp for the railroads'
financial interests."
The approval of the deal did come with many conditions,
though, including:
Two highway-rail grade separation projects, where CN will
pay for the majority of the cost.
Cameras to monitor highway crossings to assist emergency
responders.
School and pedestrian safety measures.
Noise reduction measures.
A 5-year environmental reporting requirements that include
quarterly reports.
With the decision, CN plans to move freight trains from its
tracks in Chicago and nearby suburbs onto the "J," a little-used railroad
owned by the U.S. Steel.
CN will pay $300 million for the EJ&E and has pledged
$100 million in upgrades to the system, plus $60 million in mitigation for
affected communities.
But towns along the EJ&E fear more trains will mean
traffic tie-ups, pollution, noise and delays to emergency responders.
Leaders such as Barrington Mayor Karen Darch
have called the $60 million a pittance, considering that road overpasses and
underpasses - what many towns want - are mega-million dollar projects.
A 'sea of negatives'
It was not the kind of news officials were expecting to hear
on Christmas Eve.
"The timing is ridiculous," Darch
said.
The one bright spot in the settlement, she said, was that CN
has to help fund two more two overpasses, in Aurora and Lynwood. The deal calls
for CN to pay for 67 percent of the cost of one and 78.5 percent of the other
where it initially called for 15 percent payments.
"It's a positive in a sea of negative decisions, but
I'm confused as to why it didn't go further," Darch
said.
She said the main impacts on Barrington ญญญ- including
overpasses - were not addressed.
"Obviously we disagree that there was a hard look taken
at the environmental costs," she said.
She said Barrington's view has always been that the rail
deal will cause life-and-death situations, such as ambulances getting to the
hospital and safety issues for buses taking children to school.
"There doesn't seem to be an answer to the very real
problem of life-changing issues," she said. "This is going to change
lives."
Towns fears costs
She said a grade separation project would cost $100 million
- not something Barrington can pay for on its own.
Hawthorn Woods' Hunt said called the board's decision
"just another unfunded mandate that's going to cost local governments tens
of millions of dollars, and it's going to place the burden of the transaction
on the taxpayers' back."
He said conservative estimates put the cost to Hawthorn
Woods alone at about $100 million.
Also, if the village wants other improvements such as sound
barriers and noise and vibration abatement, it's going to cost residents.
"The STB is not requiring that (the railroads) fund
that kind of mitigation," Hunt said. "(CN is) going to pass about 35
times a day through the center of Hawthorn Woods. How are you possibly going to
get emergency vehicles to the opposite side? If one of those (crossings) is
blocked you've got to go several miles out of your way to get around. The fire
districts are going to have to look at satellite stations, certainly the police
departments will."
Hunt said the coalition of roughly 40 municipalities against
the CN deal won't stand idly by and will most likely appeal the decision.
West Chicago Mayor Michael Kwasman
wasn't shocked by the decision but is still unhappy about the effect it will
have on his community.
"We anticipated this result, and we will continue to
fight through our Congressmen," he said. "We have a meeting in
January, and my guess is the next step would be litigation."
Kwasman said the deal is an inconvenience that basically means the
federal government is ignoring the needs of the community.
"The biggest impact will be on the schools getting kids
from Point A to Point B," he said.
Threat to free trade?
Lake Zurich Mayor John Tolomei
said the decision undermines U.S. jobs and trade, and ensures CN a private
monopoly on a route around Chicago "by destroying our quality of
life."
"I was hoping that the STB would actually be standing
up for the interest of the American public," he said. "It's appalling
that the STB is subsidizing a Canadian company that is also, in turn
subsidizing cheap Chinese goods all for a minor, temporary gain in
freight-loading in Chicago and nearby suburbs ... at the expense of killing
commuter rail service for our outer suburbs. It's also subsidizing cheap goods
and making U.S. goods less competitive and hurting the overall country."
Lake Zurich has six at-grade crossings in or near town, and
a high school and several residential areas that back up to the EJ&E
railroad tracks.
Tolomei estimated the mitigation costs could exceed $50 million.
"The STB failed to consider the miserable safety record
that the CN has in Canada and elsewhere," Tolomei
said. "I'm sure we'll be taking legal recourse because the STB study was
fatally flawed when they failed to consider the father western routes as a
reasonable alternative."
But CN contends that moving freight will free up a train
bottleneck in Chicago and solve a regional congestion problem. Towns
intersected by CN train lines say any relief is welcome and it's time other
towns share the burden.
The merger could move 15 to 24 more trains a day to a number
of towns along the EJ&E but also relieve traffic from other towns that have
had to deal with it for years.
Buffalo Grove has been a staunch supporter of the merger
because it would mean less train traffic on the North Central Line, which is
owned by CN.
"I think this is good news not just for Buffalo Grove
but for the region as a whole," Buffalo Grove Trustee Jeff Berman said.
"They did a nice job of taking into consideration the positive and
negative impacts. This addresses the needs of our neighbors and provides
significant benefits to the region, to the country and specifically to Buffalo
Grove."
Berman said towns like Buffalo Grove have had to deal with
the environmental impacts of train traffic for years, and that burden is being
shared more equally now.
CN reaction mixed
E. Hunter Harrison, CN president and CEO, welcomed the
ruling but also expressed disappointment with the additional mitigation beyond
the recommendations in the environmental impact study issued earlier in the
month.
"CN commends the STB for issuing its decision approving
our railroad transaction - a transaction that was subject to unprecedented
scrutiny and stakeholder involvement," Harrison said in a statement.
CN has struck deals with a number of municipalities,
including Mundelein, Hoffman Estates and Joliet for improvements to make the
changes more palatable.
Elected officials have fallen on both sides of the issues,
with U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski supporting the merger and U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean
opposing it.
In a prepared statement Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin
expressed his disappointment in what he called an "expedited process used
by the STB under pressure from Canadian National."
"They rushed a decision - giving final approval on
Christmas Eve - for a project that has untold negative consequences on
communities in our region and on quality of life for affected residents,"
Durbin said.
Bean, of Barrington, said in a statement that she was also
disappointed in what she called the failures of the STB.
"The Bush-appointed STB gives the people of Illinois
another reason to be cynical about the government's ability to act in the
interests of the people," Bean said. "The timing of this ruling is as
suspect and disappointing as its contents. It inflicts severe traffic
congestion, safety concerns and quality of life impacts on our communities with
disregard to those who will suffer them, and negligible cost
or accountability for CN."
In the summary of its decision, the STB acknowledged that
the merger would have an adverse environmental impact on the towns along the
EJ&E but not enough to outweight the benefits.
"In reaching our decision, we have balanced both the
transportation-related aspects of this transaction and the potential
environmental impacts," the summary said.
According to the STB, this decision is final regulatory
approval, but interested parties can still ask for reconsideration.
That process is available on three grounds: if there is new
evidence not available previously, a belief the agency made a material error or
a change of circumstances.
Darch said a court challenge is certainly among the options the
opponents are considering, but they'll have to discuss what to do next.
"We're prepared to take the next steps and pursue this
and see it through," Darch said.
Staff Writers Madhu
Krishnamurthy and Jake Griffin contributed to this report