Comment EI-13859
Received or sent (printed as 9/29/2008)
September 29, 2008 Phillis Johnson-Ball STB Finance Surface Transportation Board 395 E Street SW Washington, DC 20423-001 RE: Proposed Canadian National Railway Company Acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company (Docket No 35087) Dear Ms. Johnson-Ball: As I resident of the South Loop I want to voice my support of the proposed acquisition of the EJ&E Railway Company by Canadian National Railway. The proposed acquisition would have numerous benefits that on balance outweigh the negative impacts of allowing the acquisition. If you look merely at the number of individuals affected in each group, you will note that the Chicago neighborhoods where freight traffic would decrease have a combined population of 1.25 million. The suburbs where train traffic would increase have a combined population of 900,000. Therefore on the basis of numbers alone those benefiting from the acquisition are greater than those being disadvantaged. Further, the environmental benefits of the acquisition must be considered. Currently, rail congestion in the City results in trains idling for hours, through out the day and night. This results in reduced air quality, which can have both short-term and long-term effects on the health of the individuals residing in effected Chicago neighborhoods. The following is just one example of the amount of air pollution being produced by the idling trains. This summer, one of the buildings in the area, was working to repair the air conditioning. All of the residents of the building were asked to turn off their air condition and open their windows to keep the air circulating. A neighbor of mine indicated that they opened their window during the repair and it set off their carbon-monoxide detector. In other words, the air quality was so compromised that the carbon-monoxide detector indicated the unacceptable levels of carbon-monoxide in the air. Lastly, the benefits of the acquisition are not limited to the affected City population rather their effect is felt on the entire region in reduced costs of moving goods and services. By re-routing the trains from the current CN lines to the EJ&E lines you would avoid the bottleneck in the City that can leave trains idling for hours. The economic cost of keeping the trains idling will eventually be borne either directly or indirectly by those individuals and companies purchasing the goods and services. When making a determination as to whether or not to approve this acquisition I urge you to look at both the local and regional effect. Further, I urge you to take a hard look at the number of people that will benefit versus the number of people that will be disadvantaged. I appreciate your time and consideration. Sincerely, Laura Torphy 1530 S State Street Chicago IL 60605
Submitted by: Laura Torphy · Chicago, IL
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Comments on CN aquistion of EJ&E Railway.doc ↓
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35087/comment/EI-13859
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