The Naperville Sun
June 17, 2008
By Louise Brass

Increased rail freight traffic would create a "nightmare" if Canadian National Railroad acquires the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, Plainfield officials said Monday.
 
But officials worry there may be no way to stop the $300 million acquisition that is pending approval by the Federal Surface Transportation Board.
 
Currently 18 trains daily pass through Crest Hill, Plainfield, Aurora, Wheatland Township and Elgin. That number will expand to 42 daily, a company spokesman said Monday.
 
The backups won't be so bad, the company official said. Trains are expected to travel between 40 and 45 miles per hour, which would make motorists stopped at grade crossings wait about as long as they would for a long traffic light stop, said Jim Kvedaras, senior manager of U.S. Public and Government Affairs for CN. 

'Serious impact'  

U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert visited Plainfield on Monday to see the situation for herself. Together with local officials, including Plainfield Mayor James Waldorf and Police Chief Don Bennett, Biggert toured several of the village's 17 rail crossing sites. One crossing has an underpass, at Route 59, allowing the free movement of traffic north and south. The other 16 do not.
 
"It's clear that this merger would have a serious impact on life in our community - from slowing emergency responders to halting traffic on major roadways," Biggert said during a press conference at Village Hall.
 
"To make the most effective case against the merger, we need to be prepared with strong data and a solid understanding of exactly how this deal would affect our neighborhoods," she said.
 
The movement of east-west traffic will be stunted if CN buys the railroad from the owner, U.S. Steel, village officials said.
 
However, Kvedaras said, the company is meeting with officials from all communities affected to seek ways to smooth the transition, and $140 million is proposed from the company for track improvement and congestion mitigation.

Two-mile trains

According to Alex Harris, Plainfield village administrator, an estimated 300 percent increase in rail traffic can be expected. The trains will be at least twice as long as the current trains that pass through the area, so even at 45 miles an hour it will be a problem, he said.
 
Trains will block school buses, police cars and fire trucks, creating safety, noise, congestion and pollution concerns, he said.
 
The freight trains are expected to be two miles long, Bennett said. "You could almost encompass our entire community with one," he said.
 
"Ninety-percent of them are during business hours. If this number of trains become a reality, it's going to be a nightmare. It's a major concern for me," Bennett said.
 
"The length of the trains are going to have a tremendous impact on us," he said, unless overpasses or underpasses are built.
 
Waldorf said that build-out in the village in a couple of decades from now will be about 110,000 people. Many of them will be trying to access I-355 and I-55 every day to get to work from the west side of the village.
 
As long as the trains keep moving, even though slowly, they will not be breaking any traffic hold-up laws, Harris said.
 
"If we have to get a patient to a hospital, how do you get there from here?" asked Waldorf, who also envisions long lines of motorists backed up, and emergency departments trying to spread resources on each side of the tracks at all times, or risk being cut off from emergency situations.

School buses

A CN company spokesman said that typically mitigation efforts such as the construction of overpasses or underpasses at railroad crossings are 90 percent funded by federal money and the remaining 10 percent of the cost is shared by local communities and state entities.
 
However, each crossing project could cost about $10 million, he said, adding that the company wants to do what it can to help in traffic blockage mitigation.
 
Plainfield School District spokesman Tom Hernandez said last fall when a train held up a school bus for about 40 minutes, parents were frantic.
 
"With buses you can't back them up," he said.
 
And by the time the change happens, the intermodal growth in Will County is expected to add even more to the increase in the number of freight rail cars moving through the area, Harris said.
 
A company official said the move is designed to ease the huge congestion that is backing up in the rail freight in Chicago and this outer rail route was built more than 100 years ago for that reason.