Comment EI-22967
Received or sent (printed as 5/24/2016)
Phyllis Johnson-Ball Dave Navecky Surface Transportation Board Docket No. FD 35952 Frank Patton and GLBT states that landowners with right of way along the railroad will be given the option of putting in a spur and switch at their expense and receive free pickup and delivery of their goods (including grain and fertilizer) in boxcars landowners provide. Frank Patton states he has spent years doing research on this rail project, the route is not set in stone, has changed the amount of train traffic per day from 110 to 16 and everything in between and plans to take enough private property to put in 6 tracks not just 2. Since the affected landowners and farmers have only known of this project for 2 months and have not had years to consider our options or to contact every farmer and landowner in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana affected by this 278 mile rail line, we respectfully request the STB to include in their Environmental Impact Study the pick up and delivery of goods at each and every separate farmland section the rail line would traverse. We request the Environmental Impact Study to reflect this added farmland disruption and elimination, air quality impact from stationary trains due to increased pick up and delivery time of grain and fertilizer as well as the impact on vehicle travel times and emergency services due to increased blocked railroad crossings. How much time would it take to stop a 70 mph train, unhook, back up onto a spur, hook onto a grain train car or unhook a delivery car, pull back onto the main track and re-hook to the rest of the train? The train would rarely get up to 70 mph if even half the farmers and landowners took up this offer. How much time would that add to this “fast track around Chicago”? How long would this block railroad crossings 50, 70 or 100 times a day? What railroad company would use this rail line, and pay to use this rail line, if it took longer than what they are now already using? In addition, GLBT states a utility line will be installed along the rail line and landowners on the right of way will receive free electricity. Will the EIS research and calculations, and STB decision, be based on unused right of way or will it include the impact of these utility lines in and of themselves plus the affect on existing utility lines when these additional lines are downed due to weather? Is anything allowed to be put in next to the rail line if it is not now included in the EIS? Looking forward to your reply. If any further information is needed to proceed with this request please contact me. Respectfully, Sandy Linden (219) 696-8525
Submitted by: Sandy Linden · Lowell, IN
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-35952/comment/EI-22967 · back to the docket sheet