Local governments brace for more freight trains on EJ&E tracks

It's one small step forward for CN and one giant step backward for its foes when more freight trains start rumbling on the EJ&E's tracks in the coming days.

After months of Sturm und Drang, the Canadian railroad on Wednesday can officially move freights onto the "J," which runs in a semicircle west of Chicago between Waukegan and Gary, Ind. Federal regulators approved CN's purchase of the EJ&E Dec. 24.

CN leaders aren't offering a lot of details about the traffic shift, although in February a spokesman estimated up to six trains will be on the inaugural run. The railroad still needs to complete $100 million of upgrades and track connections to the more antiquated EJ&E.

CN spokesman Patrick Waldron said Friday the railroad was still working on specifics but it fully intended to share rerouting information with communities. It's unlikely the extra freights will appear as soon as Wednesday, he added.

Towns along the "J" fought the railroad merger and have filed lawsuits. They argued it would lead to traffic problems, noise, hazardous waste spills and delays for emergency responders.

But the battle raging in court won't stop the freights from coming, and local governments are bracing themselves.

"It may be no impact, it may have a great impact," Lake Zurich Unit School District 95 official Mary Kalou said.

"All we know, according to CN, is that the increase will be a handful of trains but we don't know when they'll run," said Kalou, assistant superintendent for business and operations.

Lake Zurich has overpasses at some busy locations such as Routes 12 and 22, but numerous other railroad crossings are at street level.

The district has started timing how long its buses are delayed by trains now and is strategizing how to reroute buses.

But not every Lake Zurich school can bypass the tracks, leaving the district to wonder how many trains and when?

It's not a problem "if the trains are running from 5 in the evening to 5 in the morning," Kalou said. But if the trains are scheduled when students are on the move, it's a headache.

"We're in a wait-and-see position," Kalou said.

In three years, an increase of up to 24 freights per day is expected on the EJ&E as CN simultaneously reduces trains on its lines in the city and nearby suburbs.

Among the fiercest opponents of the merger is Barrington - the village is still fighting the Surface Transportation Board's decision and has faith it will be overturned.

The village got new ammunition last week when CN filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the STB's order that it pay more than 65 percent of the cost of grade separations along the EJ&E in Lynwood and Aurora, saying the amount was an unfair departure from norms of 5 to 10 percent for railroads.

Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital's Communications Director Michael Deering says there's little the Barrington medical center can do if trains delay ambulances.

"We don't have any plans, there's not much within our control," Deering said. "I wish I could say other options were available. The game plan would have been to have some reasonable mitigation assigned by the Surface Transportation Board."

The STB ordered CN to install video cameras at crossings so emergency responders can monitor freights, which Deering called a hollow gesture.

"It really is a matter of time before patients and ambulances are impacted," he said, adding he'd recently timed a train taking 7 minutes to pass an EJ&E crossing.

The realities of living with freight trains are well known in West Chicago. Last May, a little girl was killed when she ran across the EJ&E tracks.

"It still weighs on my mind," Mayor Michael Kwasman said. West Chicago will take a big hit from the merger but the city's long history of railroad traffic has given it tools to deal with the newest challenge, Kwasman noted.

West Chicago is intersected by both Union Pacific and EJ&E tracks. In response to delays at crossings, the city completed several road construction projects to help drivers avoid slow-moving trains.

West Chicago's fire department is also building two more stations so first responders can get to emergencies without waiting for freights.

"We've been very proactive," Kwasman said.

The city is in talks with CN about striking a deal with the railroad to pay for fixing some of the problems extra train traffic causes.

"They've proposed a package to us and we're mulling it over," Kwasman said.

CN's big selling point to the STB was that it would pull trains off its tracks in Chicago and nearby suburbs, put them on the "J" and relieve a railroad chokepoint.

That promise attracted a diverse group of communities backing the merger from Des Plaines to South Holland.

In Buffalo Grove where CN trains cause traffic jams, village leaders anticipate better vehicle flow. They're optimistic that fewer freights on CN tracks shared with Metra's North Central line to Antioch will mean beefed-up commuter service.

But Buffalo Grove Trustee Jeff Berman cautioned, "I won't have a band and pop popcorn March 4. We look forward to seeing freight traffic decrease but I do not expect to see anything momentous (right away)."

DePaul University transportation expert Joseph Schwieterman has followed the EJ&E saga closely and predicts the economy and the pace of construction will slow down changes.

"Railroad operations are exceedingly complex. New strategies take months to implement," he noted. And, "freight volumes have dipped in recent months with the recession," said Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.

Those fearing the worst should take heart from the fact CN is "painfully aware the public will be watching every step," Schwieterman said. "They will feel the pressure to keep trains moving at the maximum speed allowable.

What lies ahead

In a timeline presented to the STB, CN described a project that will be completed in three stages.

• When the merger goes into effect, some rerouting of trains will occur between Gary and Mundelein. No changes will occur between Mundelein and Waukegan, because CN lines do not intersect that short stretch of track.

• After the first construction season ends, presumably in fall 2009, the railroad predicted improved connections on track segments in Indiana. Additional track will have been built at locations in Mundelein, Aurora and Frankfort. And, more train rerouting will occur between Gary and Mundelein.

Also the railroad predicts direct service will be available between CN and two other railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern where their lines cross.

• After the second construction season is over, presumably in fall 2010, better connections will have been built at EJ&E and CN intersections in Matteson, Bartlett and Joliet. Double tracking will be complete at locations in Aurora, Mundelein and Frankfort. And, the railway will have fully integrated its EJ&E and CN lines.