Getting the facts straight on CN plan

In criticizing the Buffalo Grove Village Board's support of CN's acquisition of the EJ&E (Sept. 29), Barrington resident Richard McDonald's letter reflects the self-centered, elitist snobbery that too often has overshadowed substantive discussions of this issue.

Mr. McDonald apparently believes he should be the sole arbiter of what constitutes the best interests of the entire region. In his analysis, Barrington residents are more important than the little people on the other side of the tracks, the Barrington view is the only valid perspective, and he knows better than Buffalo Grove whether CN traffic causes local congestion.

Mr. McDonald is not in a better position to judge the effect of freight traffic on quality of life in our village.

Nearly one quarter of Buffalo Grove is east of the tracks; and parents and students of Stevenson High School, and other local schools frequently encounter rail traffic. Our residents and businesses cope each day with extraordinary congestion on our roadways that is fundamentally exacerbated by freight rail traffic.

Mr. McDonald asserts that improving the limited schedule on the Metra North Central Line is not as important as the still-theoretical STAR line - which has yet to generate ridership projections that would make it viable even to garner approvals for preliminary engineering work.

Expansion of North Central service is overdue, would take cars off area roads and improve quality of life, but is stymied because of capacity limitations and conflicts with CN freight traffic. Still, it is tangible and achievable, not merely a desirable concept like the STAR line, to which CN has pledged to cooperate with Metra.

CN simply proposes to move the same number of trains to the EJ&E that currently run less efficiently through Buffalo Grove. This will benefit the region by allowing freight to move more efficiently. It also will result in fewer trains each day for more than 60 communities with a combined 4.1 million residents, compared with fewer than 30 that would see an increase.

The interests of people in towns abutting the CN lines are not inconsequential or insignificant merely because Mr. McDonald of Barrington says so.

Buffalo Grove Village Trustees Jeffrey Braiman, DeAnn Glover, Jeffrey Berman, Bruce Kahn, Steven Trilling and Brian Rubin