STAR Line Reality Check

There seems to be a lot of public hand wringing and hysteria over the impact of the CN/EJ&E acquisition on the future of a proposed Metra route known as the STAR Line. Well guess what sports fans? The STAR Line route was in serious trouble long before Canadian National made their offer to purchase EJ&E. And the source of this astounding revelation is none other than Metra’s very own 1999 Outer Circumferential Commuter Rail Feasibility Study.

But first here’s a more relevant question for Metra’s Board of Directors. If the STAR Line is as important as everyone now says it is, why didn’t Metra go ahead and buy the EJ&E itself? Or is Metra trying to get something for nothing?

The STAR Line concept has been kicking around for about 20 years now. Yet to our knowledge Metra never contemplated making a serious offer to purchase the EJ&E. We’re also not aware of any negotiations between Metra and EJ&E for a Purchase of Service of Agreement (PSA). For the past 20 years the STAR Line has been like the weather, everyone talks about it but no one ever does anything.

In 1999 Metra’s outside consulting firm of T-Y-LIN International – Bascor completed a detailed engineering analysis of the entire EJ&E Railway line within Illinois, from Waukegan all the way around to Lynwood. Their final report was released in April 1999 and is a public document available on Metra’s website.

That report included a detailed analysis of current and projected freight operations and volumes on the EJ&E, as well as substantial feedback from EJ&E management on the subject of commuter rail service on their railroad. The report’s findings are mixed at best, but we think they speak for themselves. Relevant excerpts are presented as follows.

The report’s Foreword states:

“Freight railroad operations and traffic volumes are subject to change at any time on any existing freight railroad. Growth of the national economy, improved competitive costs produced by railroads, or future railroad mergers could all have a major influence on the potential cost of implementing commuter service."

The report’s Executive Summary states:

“The EJ&E projects an increase in freight train traffic in the near future, consistent with the fairly recent resurgence of the railroad industry. EJ&E management indicated that specific long-term levels of freight traffic are difficult or impossible to predict at this time, but they will need to retain their existing trackage and other infrastructure to conduct their future business. This situation could require Metra to create its own parallel infrastructure in order to consider implementation of any potential new commuter service.”

The Executive Summary goes on to state,

“In addition, EJ&E management stated that their track capacity would be needed for present and future operations…allowing EJ&E exclusive use of their present physical plant without interference from Metra commuter operations."

Section 2.4, Freight Operations, states:

“It must be recognized that the primary responsibility of the EJ&E or any other freight railroad is their freight traffic.”

Section 3.1 of the Report covers Projected Freight Operations. That sections states:

“The freight railroad industry has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. As the existing rail capacity through Chicago is becoming limited, there is interest by other railroads to bypass bottlenecks that delay freight movements in some classification yards closer to Chicago’s downtown. The EJ&E has been actively pursuing railroad freight business that would utilize their right-of-way and consequently provide additional revenue from trackage-rights agreements.”

The report goes on to detail ongoing negotiations between EJ&E and both Union Pacific and Canadian National for extensive trackage rights agreements that ultimately covered virtually the entire length of the EJ&E. Several years later EJ&E also entered into a trackage rights agreement with BNSF for operations between Eola and Joliet.

Under Section 4.4, Single Vs. Double Track, the report states:

“EJ&E management stated at the outset of the Study, and reiterated in subsequent discussions, that their existing track capacity would be required for present and future freight operations. This would require Metra to construct a separate and virtually exclusive track for commuter train operations.”

Under Section 5.6, Additional Infrastructure the report states,

“A lot will depend upon the levels of EJ&E freight traffic that are current (and projected) at the time when such a decision might be made.”

From Metra’s very own report, it’s obvious that the lack of capacity on the EJ&E due to rail freight operations was a major issue and concern as early as 1999. And from 1999 until September 2007 the problem only got worse. In the interest of fairness critics of the CN/EJ&E deal might want to keep that fact in mind.