Plan to ease congestion at Bartlett rail interchange awaits federal ruling

For many years it's been a fact of life on the west side of Bartlett that the use of a railroad interchange on Spaulding Road has regularly blocked and congested traffic on three east-west roads simultaneously.

But hope of eliminating the problem has arisen in recent months, winning the support of village officials and residents alike.

An interim agreement two railroad companies reached last week will provide at least temporary relief of the kind Bartlett is seeking, but only a decision by the national Surface Transportation Board will determine how permanent it might be.

Armed with the written submissions of more than 200 residents, Bartlett Trustee Aaron Reinke and Assistant Village Administrator Scott Skrycki attended a Surface Transportation Board hearing in Washington, D.C., earlier this month to endorse Canadian National's proposal to stop interchanging train cars there and move those activities to the Belt Railway's Clearing Yard in Chicago.

One of the main obstacles to that course of action is the objection of fellow railroad company Canadian Pacific (CP), which argues that problems will arise elsewhere through the change Canadian National (CN) seeks.

In a late April request for a preliminary injunction against CN to stop the termination of their agreement for the use of the Spaulding Road interchange, CP explained its position.

"The absence of an interchange agreement threatens irreparable harm to shippers whose cars will be stranded at Spaulding and in CP's Bensenville Yard," CP officials wrote. "It also threatens irreparable harm to CP and other railroads who rely on efficient and fluid rail operations in the Chicago Terminal Area to provide timely rail service to our respective customers. The absence of an interchange agreement threatens to quickly cause congestion in CP's critical Bensenville Yard that will in turn cause congestion in the Chicago Terminal Area."

CN officials see the prospects of this change differently.

"This is an operational change, and would not require any new infrastructure to be constructed at Clearing or any other location, while safely and reliably meeting the needs of rail customers," CN's Senior Advisor for Media Relations and Public Affairs Alexandre Boulé said.

Since the hearing, CP has dropped its request for a preliminary injunction and reached an interim operational agreement with CN while the Surface Transportation Board continues to consider its original position.

Under the interim agreement, CN will deliver CP-bound interchange traffic to Bensenville and CP will deliver CN-bound interchange traffic through the Clearing Yard in Chicago.

In a letter to the Surface Transportation Board in June, CP officials acknowledged the written comments of Bartlett residents regarding blocked traffic on Spaulding, West Bartlett and Stearns roads and stated actions taken to address such problems.

"At least since approximately 2015, CP has scheduled its interchange operations at Spaulding to occur between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.," the letter states. "During these hours, CP crews encounter little or no vehicular traffic on either Spaulding Road or West Bartlett Road. Notably, of the approximately 200 comments filed by the residents of Bartlett, only a few express concern with nighttime interchange operations."

But Reinke said the village sees the issue as more than one of inconvenience. It also involves the access of emergency vehicles to all parts of Bartlett around the clock.

"We have to be able to serve the residents on the west side of town," Reinke said.

He said the village's concern is traffic congestion relief and officials do not anticipate the railroads' abandonment of the physical facility on Spaulding Road as a steppingstone to redevelopment of that area.

There's no way to know when the Surface Transportation Board will issue a finding, Reinke said.

"I hope this can be worked out soon," he added.