Fears about trains unjustified

I continue to be amazed by the logic being displayed by the citizenry and local governments regarding the purchase of the EJ&E railroad by Canadian National.

The demands for multiple over/under passes at considerable cost to everyone are becoming substantial. Yet, all the suburbs involved believe this will eliminate present congestion or unbearable sit times for automobiles they fear will be created by this acquisition. In fact, the amount of wait time for automobiles the additional trains will cause projects out to about 80 minutes for the added 23 trains at an estimated 3 to 4 minutes for each to cross an intersection.

But this doesn't fix all the houses on fire and all the people dying in ambulances waiting to cross the tracks at the precise time the train just happens to be coming. In fact, the time the trains will be in the crossing based on normal transit time is only slightly over 5 percent on any given day or night. As for the value of that "one" life that might be at risk for the minute or two that will be wasted, the U.S. government has already put a value on life. They consider my mother's life to be worth $480 each month for her Social Security check. Yet the value everyone wants to put on the rare life threatening ambulance sitting for a couple minutes is probably $20 million for each over/under pass.

Everyone needs to get real and realize the whole issue is more like 5 percent factual and 95 percent emotional. It isn't really about concern for traffic flow but the noise we fear in our back yards and a concern for safety. I personally am tired of our suburbs wasting our tax dollars and their time fighting this issue when there is not really an issue to start with and their time and our resources could be put to better use elsewhere.

Gary Kolbe

Geneva