Comment EI-4013
Received or sent (printed as 1/23/2008)
Dear Ms. Johnson-Ball: I am writing to express my great concern about the proposed acquisition of the EJ&E Railway by Canadian National with their intention to significantly increase freight traffic. The gridlock that could result is a very real and frightening possibility on so many levels. In most of the Barrington area, we are on private wells in our yards. This means that in case of fire, water on tanker fire trucks has to be brought in from all over the surrounding villages. Freight trains could greatly slow this effort and a broken down one could prevent any help from arriving in time to save occupants or house. We happen to live near Good Shepard Hospital but most don't and it's disconcerting to think of how increased train traffic would impede emergency medical care. With Metra tracks already running through much of the area, the addition of 22 or more freight trains a day on still more tracks is overwhelming. The dangers of trains to pedestrians and drivers is very real. We live about 2 miles away from the crossing in Fox River Grove where 7 high school students tragically lost their lives when their school bus didn't clear the tracks before a Metra train hit it. Every week somewhere in Chicagoland someone loses their life in a train accident. The Barrington area has a great many crossings that don't leave enough room to adequately clear the tracks when there is a traffic jam and a stoplight changes. We are residents of Lake Barrington and like other of the villages, our police protection is contracted through Lake County. This means that too often there is not a squad car in the immediate vicinity. In the case of criminal activity, like a home invasion in progress, a sheriff's car waiting for a long freight train to pass could mean the difference between life and death. I sincerely hope that you will turn down the proposed sale and by so doing protect our community from all the extra dangers that we would bear so a foreign country could reap profits at Americans' expense. Best Regards, Linda L Tatum
Submitted by: Linda L Tatum · Lake Barrington, 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-4013 · back to the docket sheet