DuPage Co. forest preserve holding up controversial railroad plan

DuPage County Forest Preserve leaders say they will deny a request from Canadian National Railway to buy a sliver of the Pratt's Wayne Woods Forest Preserve.

While a setback, railroad officials said Friday it won't kill their planned $300 million purchase of the EJ&E rail line, which includes a stretch from Joliet to Waukegan.

"We think not," said Jim Kvedaras, Canadian National spokesman. "We're continuing discussions, and if it becomes clearer nothing can be worked out with the forest preserve, we'll explore other alternatives."

The company's anticipated takeover of the EJ&E has spurred intense objections among suburban officials who fear massive increases in traffic as trains are routed around already-congested freight lines in Chicago.

A formal rejection is expected at Tuesday's forest preserve board meeting.The railroad company wanted the roughly one-acre parcel to build a new spur line to move freight trains through the area more quickly and more frequently along its existing east-west line and the north-south EJE tracks.Alternatives such as building a shadow line along Union Pacific tracks to the west that meet up the Canadian National tracks northwest of Wayne is one possibility.Forest preserve board Chairman Dewey Pierotti said the district "can't sell property to a third party like that. And the railroad doesn't have the authority to take the land, either."Opponents of Canadian National's plans agree the forest preserve rejection won't halt the project -- but it could have a favorable effect on suburban congestion."I don't think this is going to slow down their purchase, but it may reduce the number of trains they run through there, which is a good thing, in our opinion," said James Healy, a county board member whose district includes the portion of the EJE line that runs through Naperville, Aurora and Warrenville.Kvedaras said if and when Canadian National purchases the EJE line, the DuPage County segment could expect an increase from five to roughly 20 trains a day.Healy said it will also kill plans to create the suburb-to-suburb commuter line that would connect the spokes of Metra lines in and out of Chicago.Pierotti said the spur would not only have made it easier for Canadian National to add more freight train traffic, but other railways could have used the bypass as well, adding more noise and pollution.The EJE line abuts four DuPage forest preserves, and Pierotti noted that he has concerns about the impact the additional Canadian National freight traffic will have on wildlife along the rail line. He also voiced concerns about the impact on humans living near the line."If this goes through, it's not because the forest preserve helped," he said.