Opinion

Let's charge tolls for railroad use

Posted June 20, 2015 1:00 am

I was struck by the juxtapositioning of two stories in the Thursday, June 11, edition. The first was a glowing, favorable story about the Illinois Tollway Authority and its new board chairman, Bob Schillerstrom.

The tollway was touted to be well funded, operating smoothly and looking for new visions. The second story across from that was about the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and its new executive director, Joseph Szabo. He lamented the delays and lack of funding for its CREATE program to relieve railroad congestion in the Chicago area.

Putting these two scenarios together, I wondered what would happen if we created an Illinois Railroad Authority with bonding and eminent domain authorities to build and maintain new rail lines in Illinois. How would the new authority pay their expenses and pay off the bonds? By charging tolls for each and every railcar that uses their tracks. Structure the new Railroad Authority on the Tollway Authority model.

Thirty or 40 years from now, we might have the improved railway system here that will keep northern Illinois at the center of transportation in the United States. And, it would be done without a lot of taxes on the public.

That would be better than having to dust-off CMAP's Goto 2040 plan in 2040 and lamenting its lack of implementation.

Lincoln Lockhart

Naperville

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