Comment EI-16113
Received or sent (printed as 9/29/2008)
Dear Ms. Johnson-Ball: As a resident of Frankfort who is concerned about the pending sale of the EJ&E to CN, I would like you to know that Frankfort has nine residential subdivisions adjacent to the EJ&E. My neighbors' quality of life is going to be seriously negatively impacted by the dramatic increase in train traffic with at least one train per hour moving through Frankfort. In addition, CN is anticipating that these trains will be super freight trains with lengths up to two miles long. Did you know that one super train will successfully block multiple crossings in town? Not only will this inconvenience residents like me who need to get from one side of town to the other, it will critically affect the response time of emergency vehicles needing to get south of the tracks. In particular this concerns me because all three of our grade schools are within a few blocks of the train tracks and two of our schools would be cut off from the main fire station. I am very worried about the safety of my children and their fellow students if emergency vehicles cannot get to our schools in a timely manner. I do not believe the EIS accurately estimated reponse times in this area. In addition, I am concerned about the much-loved and well-used Camp Manitoqua property which is home to huge groves of 200+ year old oak trees. I do not believe the EIS bothered to estimate the potential for damage to these beautiful trees due to the increase of noise, pollution and vibration, as the EJ&E tracks run along the northern border of the camp property. These are serious environmental issues that need to be discussed in your final Environmental Impact Study. Please take the time to reevaluate. Finally, I understand that the EJ&E tracks in Frankfort have not received major repairs in over 25 years. That’s one reason the experienced engineers go so slowly through Frankfort. Now the Canadian National is proposing to increase the number of trains by over 400% and they state that they will run trains through our community at 45 miles per hour on these old tracks. I wonder if the authors of your Draft Environmental Impact Statement have read the report to the Canadian House of Commons from the Standing Committee on Transport that severely criticizes the safety record of the Canadian National Railway. Perhaps the most alarming comment in the report is that by 2008, the CN had only implemented one out of the five safety measures it was ordered to implement by the Canadian government back in 2001. If they won’t implement safety measures for their own government, why should we believe that they will show a concern for safety when operating in the United States? In fact Canadian National employees are quoted in the report as saying that they work in a “culture of fear,” which affects safety. Please make sure that the final Environmental Impact Study takes the safety record of the CN into consideration. We are counting on you to help avoid a tragedy in our community. Thank you for reading my concerns. Sincerely, Rachel Gilmore, Frankfort resident
Submitted by: Rachel Gilmore · Frankfort, 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.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35087/comment/EI-16113 · back to the docket sheet