Are you better off after CN/EJ&E merger?
“CN's plan to move many of its freight trains from rail lines mainly in the Chicago area onto the less-used EJ&E tracks has attracted both support and fierce opposition from towns along the route.”
That brilliant wordsmithing came from yours truly five years ago. It was summer 2008 and the region was immersed in a battle over the Canadian National Railway's proposed merger with the “J,” a smaller railway extending in a semicircle from Waukegan to Gary.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board approved the deal Dec. 24, 2008, with some strict conditions. At the time, towns including Barrington feared an influx of freights would cause traffic gridlock while suburbs such as Des Plaines hoped shifting trains onto the EJ&E would ease rail congestion across the region and in their backyards.
So who was right? To a degree, both sides.
A CN report submitted to the Surface Transportation Board in May indicates the average number of freight trains on EJ&E tracks through municipalities like Barrington, Lake Zurich and Hanover Park increased from 5.3 a day pre-merger to 16.8 in April.
Further south, municipalities like Aurora and Naperville are experiencing 10 to 11 more trains daily.
“There's definitely a difference, particularly for anyone who lives close to the tracks,” Barrington Mayor Karen Darch said. The extra trains are particularly troublesome when classes are starting or ending at nearby Barrington High School, she said. “There was a slow-moving train at 2:30 (p.m.) recently and it's unbelievable what it did for kids trying to leave,” Darch added.
And when a truck on the tracks collided with a freight train May 24, shutting down Route 14 for hours, it added urgency to the town's push for a grade separation, she noted.
Conversely, suburbs such as Des Plaines and Buffalo Grove are getting a break with fewer freights on the CN tracks crisscrossing their towns. The count went from 19 trains daily to five.
“I'm on my bicycle all the time and I'm noticing a substantial drop in train congestion,” state Rep. and former Des Plaines Mayor Marty Moylan said. “And, we're getting less complaints from residents.”
Buffalo Grove Trustee Jeff Berman noted the results align with CN's promises.
“The fact that it has now come to fruition, and we have experienced nearly a 75 percent reduction in freight traffic, is a very positive outcome,” he said.
It's interesting, however, that the most recent numbers don't match CN's original projections.
In Barrington, for example, estimates were at 15 more trains a day and in Aurora, up to 23 more. In Des Plaines and Buffalo Grove, freight traffic was expected to drop by 17 trains daily.
Former CN executive Eric Jakubowski acknowledged that because of the lackluster economy and a decline in coal shipments resulting from Chicago area plant closures, the volume of trains is off from numbers cited in official documents filed with the STB in 2008.
“Some of us recognize those projections were wild, but once you file them, you have to defend them,” Jakubowski said speaking last week to the Sandhouse Gang (which is not a bunch of teen hooligans but a railroad discussion group run by the Northwestern University Transportation Center).
The official line from CN is that “on any rail line or segment, not just the EJ&E, train counts and frequency can vary based on overall market conditions and changing customer demands,” spokesman Patrick Waldron said in an email.
“The (earlier) projections were made prior to the economic downturn and train counts in many segments do remain well under those 2015 forecasts. Where those numbers go in the future ... will continue to be influenced by market and economic conditions and customer demand.”
Where indeed.
Heat deaths are so preventable
Seven children died after being left in cars in hot weather during May, the <a href="http://KidsAndCars.org">KidsAndCars.org</a> group reported. The children ranged in age from 2 months to 4 years, and the fatalities occurred in Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Virginia. Safety advocates caution parents to remember that vehicle temperatures rise quickly and recommend putting an essential belonging, like a purse, in the back seat as a reminder to not leave a child in the car.