Barrington residents think traffic jams foreshadow EJ&E sale

The traffic jams caused by railroad work in Barrington this week have left some residents wondering if that's just a preview of what's to come if a controversial buyout of the rail line goes through.

Barrington Village President Karen Darch contends just that. She said traffic tie-ups like this week's could become the norm if more trains are added to the line, as Canadian National proposes to do if it purchases the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway.

CN officials say the comparison is unfair.

It wants to turn the line into a bypass route around Chicago for freight trains. That would reduce freight traffic in some areas but increase it in others.

More Coverage Video Residents talk about traffic jams

Darch said she worries what could happen if a train were to block all three EJE crossings in Barrington -- at Northwest Highway, Route 59 and Lake-Cook Road -- at once.

"If this is what happens when just one crossing is closed, imagine what will happen if three are," she said.

Darch said the distance between the three main Barrington crossings is about 4,200 feet, while CN officials said trains would average about 8,000 feet long.

"That could easily (block) the whole town at one time," Darch said.

But CN spokesman Jim Kvedaras said he didn't see how you could fairly compare a train that takes a few minutes to pass through town with a construction project that shuts down an entire crossing for a full week.

"I don't see any parallel there," he said. "It makes no sense to me."

This week, traffic on Northwest Highway from Route 59 to Lake-Cook Road has been rerouted while crews replace the crossing at Northwest Highway.

EJE spokesman John Armstrong called the work routine maintenance. The crossing is expected to reopen Friday afternoon.

Barrington resident Maureen Yates, whose husband spent an hour trying to drive around the construction detour this week, said she, too, expects more traffic problems if CN is able to bring the additional 15 to 26 trains through town each day.

"It's quite logical that that's going to happen," she said. "It is just going to be a nightmare, and I don't think people realize it."

If CN does complete the purchase, Kvedaras said the trains are expected to take about three minutes to pass through each crossing.

"I don't know what the motivation (of Darch) is other than to scare people," he said.

Kvedaras wouldn't speculate about scenarios that might cause a train to be stopped and block all the crossings at once.

"We don't deal in 'what ifs,'" he said.

CN proposes to buy the EJE for $300 million.

But the sale's opponents gained another ally Wednesday: The village of Bartlett announced it joined The Regional Answer to Canadian National, or TRAC, a group of area communities fighting the transaction.

The deal is under review by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, which has final say over the sale.

One part of the review is an environmental impact study, which will focus on 15 factors including safety and quality of life. A draft is expected sometime this summer.