Comment EI-7405
Received or sent (printed as 6/4/2008)
I am writing to inform you how concerned I am over the proposed aquisition of Canadian National with the EJ&E railroad outside of Chicago. After hearing that the intentions are to increase the frequency and length of trains on those rails and that no consideration will be given for overpasses or underpasses, our community will be split in half. Police and fire departments will be on one half of the city and unable to get to the other side while trains go by. The town of Lake Zurich has elementary, middle, and high schools immediately adjacent to these tracks. At our town meeting we were told that CN plans on doubling the length of trains, quadroupling the number of trains, and carrying hazardous through the center of our town. The scariest thing to me is that a single train has the potential to block every north/south road across the tracks for over two miles at a time lasting 10 to 20 minutes a pass when their proposed switching station is up and running just north of Hawthorn Woods. I'm in favor of the increased productivity CN would attain but outraged at the lack of respect they show for the impacted communities. I believe that railroad companies should have to pay for and abide by the same rules that other established companies would have to abide by in order to operate within any given community. Namely, paying for proper traffic studies, alleviating anticipated disturbances, supporting local services such as the fire department and police department, and giving back to the communities they operate in. Please take this into consideration as you decide on the aquisition. Thank you, Chris
Submitted by: Chris Hull · Hawthorn Woods, 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-7405 · back to the docket sheet