Comment EI-4837
Received or sent (printed as 1/31/2008)
Docket #35087 I appose the proposed Canadian National Railway Company acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company for the following reasons: • Safety issue – Response times for the only fire station east of the tracks that services three large subdivisions west of the tracks on West Bartlett Rd will be severely impacted by the increased use of the tracks by CNRC. This poses a very real safety hazard to residents west of the tracks on both Stearns and West Bartlett Rd. • Potential rail car blockages on West Bartlett and on Stearns leaves residents west of the rail tracks completely locked as these are the only streets that you can gain access to the subdivisions. Lake Street does allow access, but it clearly is a much longer route and Lake Street already has heavy traffic. Residents who are forced to now use Lake Street in fear of a rail delay will only increase their fuel consumption and over burden the Lake street traffic. This will have a negative environmental effect because it will increase fuel consumption and air pollution. • Severe traffic back ups already occur on both west Bartlett and Stearns Rd at the current rail usage rates. Increasing the rail usage rates will have negative impacts on both property values and on increased pollution due to increase road time and idling cars in traffic congestion. • Increased rail usages for industrial rail transit increases the likelihood for toxic waist spills which would negatively impact the many residential properties that the E,J and E rail lines traverse. • Canadian National Railway’s poor safety record as documented on the NTSB web site. CNR’s poor safety record is rooted in poor work standards for their workers who are often working under severe fatigue. Under the top 10 listings of train incidents in 2007, CNR was listed 3 times. I also question CNR’s record on improving environmental impact that their company imposes on communities.
Submitted by: Tom Hartmann · Bartlett, Illinois
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-4837 · back to the docket sheet