Comment EI-3457
Received or sent (printed as 1/9/2008)
Also attached: Scoping Comment for the Proposed Canadian National Railway Company Acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company STB Finance Docket No. 35087 I attended scoping meeting in Barrington, IL on Wed., Jan 9, 2008 Comment Form: This is an economic issue for all involved. CN, a non-US company, stands to make a great deal of money from this transaction and current residents of the Barrington, IL community will suffer both economically and from a lower quality of life. Added train traffic (20 to 30 freight trains per day) will: • Increase noise levels (a concern at any hour – the current trains rumble through in the middle of the night shaking the ground enough to jar pictures on the wall). • Lower property values. • Increase air pollution as motorists wait for long, slow freight trains (CN states trains will run from 7,500 to 10,000 feet long – trains of this length will easily block more than one road crossing at a time) to pass. • Increase gas consumption as motorists wait for long, slow freight trains. • Create safety issues as more pedestrians, bikers, motorists & school buses come in contact with train traffic. Many of the train crossings in this area do not have gates. • Create logistics issues for emergency vehicles such as police, fire and ambulances (emergencies happen at all times of the day and night). • Create logistics issues for school buses as they strive to get kids to school on time and schools fight to secure their own funding based on attendance and performance. • Create a level of frustration as residents deal with blocked streets from slow moving freight trains that are already required to give right-of-way priority to Metra commuter trains. Even with the sophisticated staging/scheduling that can be done on these tracks, having an additional 20 to 30 of these long, slow freight trains will cause delays and traffic build-ups. • Create a conflict with the goals of the Chicago Region Environmental & Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program. The current traffic that is going through Chicago and causing the delays is part of the cost of doing business for CN and this cost should not be passed onto the residents of the Barrington, IL area. Respectfully, Kathryn Cotter 21510 Old Farm Rd. Deer Park, IL 60010
Submitted by: Kathryn Cotter · Deer Park, 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.
Scoping Comment for the Proposed Canadian National Railway Company Acquisition of the Elgin.doc ↓
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35087/comment/EI-3457
File docketyard.org/document/19d2944745cb2673ce97674f02414ca528700e70e41653fbc67f339986dea12a.bin · back to the docket sheet