Time For Straight Talk on CN/EJ&E

Leaders in the northwest suburban community of Barrington are complaining about a proposal by Canadian National Railway to buy the EJ&E rail line. For Barrington, the plan would put up to 20 trains a day on a line that currently carries only five, but was recently upgraded by the EJ&E Railway itself precisely to accommodate these kinds of increased volumes.

Anyone who lives in places like Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale or Downers Grove knows that wonderful communities can and do exist with well over a hundred freight, Amtrak and Metra trains per day passing through them. The morning and evening rush hours in downtown Barrington actually resemble these other communities thanks to the passage of some 62 daily Metra passenger trains, most of which stop there, creating gridlock in the downtown area while they load or unload passengers. And while Metra is actively planning to increase service (and grade crossing delays) on this route, Barrington’s wrath seems to be reserved solely for freight trains.

The local NIMBY opposition has been joined by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, but to quote the cartoon character Pogo, “we have met the enemy and he is us”. Conspicuously absent in Senator Durbin’s numerous press releases and public pronouncements is any acknowledgment of his own very direct responsibility for the current predicament faced by his constituents.

We already have a solution for the region’s rail congestion problems, an extraordinary public-private partnership called CREATE. In 2005 its supporters were led to believe by Senator Durbin, Congressman William Lipinksi and other elected officials that CREATE would receive a substantial influx of funds under the Federal surface transportation reauthorization bill known as SAFETEA-LU. While rail freight projects in Ohio and California were generously funded, CREATE received what amounted to pocket change, and has languished in limbo ever since. The plain truth is that if CREATE had received anything close to full funding in 2005 we would not be having this debate today.

The real issue is this: People in Barrington don’t want to wait in their cars (anymore than they already do for Metra trains). The flaw in Barrington’s argument is that the delays they face are not anything special or extraordinary compared with the rest of the region.

We recently took grade crossing delays for the six county region documented in a 2002 Illinois Commerce Commission study and compared them with the projected increased delays along the EJ&E. It appears that the increased crossing delays along the EJ&E route will still be considerably less than those being experienced every day by numerous communities in the region, including my hometown of Downers Grove.

Of course, complaining about inconvenience alone is unlikely to carry the day, so Barrington officials such as President Karen Darch have resorted to portraying trains as unusual safety hazards. Among her stated concerns is blocked access to Advocate Good Shepard Hospital in Barrington, a Level 2 Trauma Center.

The question is, what about other communities?

Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, for example, is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in all of DuPage County. This facility has been dealing with grade crossing delays caused by Amtrak, Metra and BNSF trains for years. We’ve been waiting almost 10 years for full funding of a grade separation project at Belmont Road to deal with this serious public safety issue.

My question for Senator Durbin (and 13th District Congresswoman Judy Biggert) is what, exactly have you been doing in the last 10 years to secure funds for Downers Grove? Are you suggesting that the public safety concerns of citizens in Barrington are greater than those in communities such as Downers Grove? Why no press conferences to decry grade crossing delays in Blue Island, Des Plaines, Downers Grove, La Grange and other suburbs?

In 2002, as part of a study originally requested by the Illinois Congressional delegation, the Illinois Commerce Commission came to this stunning conclusion.

“Neither IDOT, ICC, the railroads, or the affected communities alone, or in combination, have the financial resources necessary to make a significant improvement in the amount of delay currently being experienced at grade crossings…the grade crossing delay problem is likely to worsen. A new program…is necessary in order to reduce delays at grade crossings in northeastern Illinois.”

Simply making Canadian National the scapegoat here solves absolutely nothing.

The real problem is not the action of CN, or any other railroad, but rather the continuing ineptitude and inaction of our elected officials and public agencies. By following the lead of Senator Durbin, and other elected officials, Chicago’s status as a robust transportation center could be at risk. If we as a region are not careful, we could wind up with the little economic engine that couldn’t.