Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13) issued the following statement in response to a hearing held today by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) to examine Canadian National’s (CN) failure to report more than 1,400 crossing blockages over a two-month period following its takeover of Chicago’s suburban Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway (EJ&E) line:

           “It’s clear from today’s hearing that CN has known of this data on blocked crossings for almost a year and failed to share it.  CN officials expressed ‘regret’ for the situation, but avoided taking any real responsibility for keeping the public and the Board in the dark.  Instead, they danced around a range of explanations – that they didn’t view the data as of interest to the Board, that it hadn’t yet been verified, or that it simply wasn’t noteworthy.  None of these excuses holds any water for the thousands of suburban residents who were affected by unreported blockages severing traffic, splicing communities, and cutting off first responders.

           “I was very pleased that the Board members made it unequivocally clear that CN’s failure violated both the letter and the spirit of its legal obligations.  Whether they relate to reporting stopped trains or slow moving trains, these requirements were imposed on CN out of concern for the impacted communities -- not to protect CN’s bottom line.  That’s why CN is required to report the data, and the STB determines what is noteworthy.  Not the other way around. 

           “The Board explained that they will hear from the public before making a determination about how to respond, and I know that many in our community will have thoughts on how CN should be held accountable for protecting the safety of area residents.  I look forward to reviewing the STB’s decision.  As I have said before, additional reporting requirements are not enough.  I was encouraged when former Board Chairman Nottingham expressed an interest in extending the oversight and reporting period for this railway operation.  As he said, this reporting failure has already placed the STB’s oversight of CN a year behind.  And if more errors and omissions are found -- especially relating to safety -- local residents must have confidence that regulators are watching and have the power to intervene.”

           Editor’s Note: Today’s hearing was held in response to the April 21, 2010 release by the STB of the findings of a third party audit showing that while CN reported only 14 blocked crossings lasting 10 minutes or more between November and December of 2009, automatically-generated data showed 1,457 instances, involving 85 different crossings on the former EJ&E line, where the crossing signal system was activated and the gates were in the down position for periods exceeding 10 minutes.  For more information on today’s hearing, visit http://www.stb.dot.gov.

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