CN Rail Congestion

UPDATE! The Surface Transportation Board has released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Canadian National's proposal. This document is the result of the board's environmental analysis and includes descriptions of environmental impacts and suggested remediation. I have strongly objected to the conclusions of this draft, which allows for an egregious burden to be placed on local taxpayers, ignores the impact of the proposal on Metra's Star Line, provides no help for public safety, and worst of all allows for practically no long-term enforcement of any conditions agreed to.  

You can read my public response to the Draft EIS here.

The STB is currently accepting comments on the Draft EIS. STB staff will incorporate these comments, and any additional research the comments make necessary, into the Final EIS that is sent to the three-member board. All members of the public are allowed to comment on this draft. Go to http://www.stbfinancedocket35087.com/html/contactinfo.html for instructions on how to submit comments.

You can also attend one of the STB's public meetings throughout the Chicago area. These meetings are being held expressly to gather comments on the Draft EIS. Each public meeting will offer an informal open house segment from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, followed by a formal public meeting from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Go here for more information. Meetings are as follows:

To gather feeback for the EIS and to give our local and state officials a voice in the process, I chaired a field hearing in downtown Chicago along with my colleagues from the Suburban Illinois delegation: Congresswoman Judy Biggert, Congressman Bill Foster and Congressman Don Manzullo. Among those testifying were representatives of local governments both for and against the transaction, as well as officials from Metra, the Illinois Dept. of Transportation, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

I joined House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (MN-08) to propose legislation that would - for the first time - require the Surface Transportation Board to consider the effects of rail expansion on local communities and taxpayers as part of its core mission. The Taking Responsible Action for Community Safety (TRACS) Act, H.R. 6707, would give the board authority over any transaction involving at least one major (Class 1) railroad and would add a critical requirement for the STB to consider “the safety and environmental effects of the proposed transaction, including the effects on local communities, such as public safety, grade crossing safety, hazardous materials transportation safety, emergency response time, noise, and socioeconomic impacts; and the effect of the proposed transaction on intercity rail passenger transportation and commuter rail passenger transportation.” You can read more about the proposed bill here.

UPDATE! The Surface Transportation Board has released the Final Scope of Study for the Environmental Impact Statement on Canadian National's proposal. This document outlines everything that the STB plans to study during the EIS process. Please click here to see the document on the STB's website.

Congressman James Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, joined me for a tour of the EJ&E rail line to see the impact this proposal would have on the community.

Here's what he had to say:

"Congresswoman Melissa Bean and I met with mayors, business leaders, and community representatives of at least four of the communities along the proposed CN/EJ&E route. It is bluntly obvious that a wide range of issues remains unresolved, and even unaddressed, in this proposal. The Surface Transportation Board should require the railroad to respond to a wide range of public safety, public health and school transportation issues. Noise, vibration, and other environmental effects have been raised as concerns as well. If these communities raise these issues with the STB, Congresswoman Bean will support them, and I will join her in appealing for more intensive consideration of these issues."

The Chairman toured several of the grade crossings that would see increased rail traffic. Local mayors and emergency personnel presented him with a summary of the increased dangers their communities will face under the proposal.

We much appreciate Chairman Oberstar's willingness to work on this issue with us. His deep knowledge of transportation issues has been an asset in our fight and I will continue to keep him informed of our work.

UPDATE ! Other members of the Illinois delegation are joining us in this effort.

Senator Dick Durbin and I sent a joint open letter to Canadian National’s CEO, Hunter Harrison, outlining a number of concerns we share. The letter said that “Canadian National has not demonstrated a willingness to meet the needs of the communities along the EJ&E, provide long-term commitments to the region, or guarantee full cooperation with the proposed STAR Line and current Amtrak service, which leads us to oppose the acquisition as it stands today.”

This was followed by a frank meeting between Durbin, Harrison and myself in which both the Senator and I expressed our opposition personally.

Following that meeting, six other members of the Illinois delegation to the House of representatives joined me in a bipartisan letter expressing similar objections.

These actions have helped raise the profile of this debate and are giving voice to our community. I commend my colleagues for joining me on this issue.

UPDATE! The Surface Transportation Board has now closed the period for comments regarding the scope of its environmental review. Thanks to everyone who commented. We are now waiting for a report that will summarize the input from all the scoping sessions.

In October 2007, the Canadian National Railroad (CN) announced its plans to purchase the EJ&E rail line, which cuts through the 8th district from Hoffman Estates, through South Barrington, Barrington Hills, Barrington, Deer Park, Lake Zurich, Hawthorn Woods and Mundelein to Waukegan.

CN has estimated an increase in freight traffic on this line from 5 to 20 additional freight trains per day.

Obviously, this could have a severe impact on the community. In the Barrington area alone, there are eight crossings at street-grade level along the EJ&E tracks. The increased freight traffic could have broad impacts on the region’s transportation, including significant delays to already congested arterial roads. Some commuters to northern Lake County towns like Antioch and Lake Villa could face huge backups along Illinois Route 59. Driving from Crystal Lake, Woodstock and McHenry into northern Cook County along U.S. Route 14 could also become much more difficult, effectively cutting McHenry County off from easy access to Chicago.

This purchase must go through a review process with the Surface Transportation Board (STB), a federal agency, who will ultimately approve or disapprove of the sale.

This is an issue I am watching closely. Already I have:

•     Sent a letter to the STB in November stating my concerns about the impact on 8th district communities and asking to be a party of record.
•     Met with STB Chairman Charles “Chip” Nottingham to express my concerns. I requested and received his commitment to hold formal field hearings involving STB officials in the district, where residents and local officials could deliver sworn testimony about the potential dangers and effects of the sale.
•     Requested that the STB conduct an environmental review of the sale. This request is what led to the public “scoping sessions” where many residents spoke out about the impact the sale would have on them.
•     Attended the January 9 scoping session in Barrington and heard from many of you about the effect such an expansion in freight traffic would have on your lives.
•     Held an open house in Lake Zurich on February 11 with other legislative and local leaders to provide residents with information, hear your views, and collect comments for submission to the STB.

For more information on the EIS process, go to the STB's dedicated web page about the project.

If you'd like to receive updates about other public meetings and developments on this issues and other issues in the 8th district, click here to subscribe to my newsletter.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact my office at any time.

Thank you.

February 20, 2008