Comment EI-23448
Received or sent (printed as 6/6/2016)
NOTE: resubmital of letter concerning Manteno Rail Port to correct dates referred to in text regarding Morris, Il. correct date is May 02, 2016, not May 12, 2016. ATTN: Docket # FD 35952 June, 6, 2016 Mr. Navecky Surface Transportation Board Docket No. FD 35952 395 E Street, SW Washington, DC 20423-0001 After reviewing the available information about the proposed Great Lakes Basin (GLB) rail project, I am concerned about the mis-representation of the intended need and intended use of 15,000 acres of land near Manteno, Il. The proposal from GLBT suggests the need of 15,000 acres near Manteno, Il and that the land would be obtained through eminent domain. If the suggested amount of land is to be used as a rail yard for the proposed GLB Railroad, the amount is grossly inflated. Only approximately 600 acres would be required to operate a rail yard at the capacity suggested by developer Frank Patton. Union Pacific's Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska is 2850 acres and is the largest railroad rail yard in the world and handles 10,000 rail cars a day. That's (.285) acres needed per car. (2850acres/10,000cars) The GLB Proposal says that it will be capable of handling 110 trains per day. Assuming that an average train has 85 cars, the GLB rail yard would need to be able to handle approximately 9350 cars a day at it's full capacity (110 trains x 85 cars), suggesting that a rail yard similar in size to Bailey Yard would be sufficient. However, at a public meeting in Morris, Il on May 02, 2016, Mr Patton stated that there would only be 20-24 trains a day on the GLB Rail. At 20-24 trains per day as stated by Mr Patton, the rail yard would only need to handle 1700 to 2040 cars per day. (20 trainsx85=1700; 24 trainsx85=2040) At .285 acre required per car this would mean that the GLB yard would require less than 600 acres. (2040 x .285 = 581 acres) There is no publicly available business plan for the proposed GLB Railroad which proves the necessity for 15,000 acres as a rail yard to operate this proposed railroad. As well, there is no publicly available business plan stating what the specific intended use of the land would be, other than a rail yard. The GLB proposal refers to this 15000 acres as a “Rail Port.” At a public meeting in Morris, Il on May 02, 2016, when asked why 15000+ acres of land is needed near Manteno, Il for the proposed “railport”, Mr Patton's answer was “They told us to plan for the future.” I researched the term “Railport” and found this definition: “Railport is a generic marketing term used by certain railroads and other entities. It implies a terminal where cargo can be transferred from one mode to another, usually rail and highway interface. It usually means a new location on the map but it could also be a site that was a former traditional rail yard, military base or industrial park. Most volumes involve trailers and domestic and marine containers but can also involve other forms of intermodalism like auto/vehicle ramps, lumber or steel transloads, and transload facilities for stuff handled in covered hopper and tank cars.” In the absence of a publicly available transparent business plan which openly and specifically explains the necessity for this much land, I can only conclude that the request is an attempt by Mr Patton and his non-disclosed group of investors to use the proposal to obtain land by eminent domain for purely speculative reasons, ie., intermodal developments, which would likely involve resale or leasing of the land to other entities. This proposal is ladened with non-transparency, is highly speculative and in my opinion has failed to sufficiently provide documentation that supports public convenience and necessity. I believe also that the fast tracking of this project and the waiving of the six month notification period was an error on the part of the STB. This project should not be allowed. I am respectfully requesting that the approval of this project be denied. Randall Mau 4048N 8000W Rd Bonfield, Il 60913
Submitted by: Randall Mau · BONFIELD, 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.
GLB_STB_LETTER_RAILPORT_date correction.odt ↓
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35952/comment/EI-23448
File docketyard.org/document/4c3baa58a44c2436ece9675a0bfacc6031fc260acedb87f4fa3e600d6f82efde.zip · back to the docket sheet