Comment EI-23095
Received or sent (printed as 5/31/2016)
Mr.Navecky: The stated purpose of the proposed GLBT Rail project is to alleviate rail congestion in the rail yard on the south side of Chicago. According to GLBT documents it can take up to 30 hours for a train car to get through this yard. An alternative to building a new track and destroying thousands of acres of farmland would be to have better planning/coordination between railroads prior to reaching the Chicago rail yard. The Union Pacific railroad operates a switch yard on the south side of Janesville, Wisconsin that has been underutilized since the closing of the General Motors plant in Janesville. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian Pacific, and the Canadian National all have access opportunities via the State of Wisconsin owned track operated by the Wisconsin Southern or Wisconsin Great national railroads. The Union Pacific rail yard in Janesville could be used as an ancillary switch yard (staging yard) to group railcars together based on destination. The Union Pacific railroad could forward the grouped trains on a daily AM and PM schedule similar to schedules when GM was operating. This provides an opportunity to minimize the number of switches required upon arrival in Chicago which would reduce the amount of time it takes for a railcar to pass through the yard. Trains coming out of Chicago could be handled in the reverse order. The rail lines owned by the State of Wisconsin would require upgrades to accommodate this alternative. The involved railroads would need detailed planning and coordination in order to make it work. This is an alternative that would use existing rail resources to alleviate the Chicago yard delays that are occurring today rather than destroying our farmland. Please analyze and give consideration to this alternative.
Submitted by: Brad Mair · Save Our Farmland · Janesville, Wisconsin
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-23095 · back to the docket sheet