CN offers to pay for overpasses in EJ&E bid

The Canadian National Railway is offering to spend $40 million for overpasses in Chicago suburbs that face major increases in freight train traffic under its plan to purchase the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.

In a letter from CN President E. Hunter Harrison to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Melissa Bean, the railroad also pledged to cap Amtrak's costs for the use of CN tracks. The railroad said the move should calm fears that passenger service south to Springfield, Carbondale and other Illinois cities would be jeopardized by increased traffic on the EJ&E line.

The CN seeks to buy the EJ&E -- which skirts the Chicago area from Waukegan to Joliet and Gary -- for $300 million. If the federal Surface Transportation Board approves the deal, freight traffic would quadruple through many suburbs.