Comment EI-24004
Received or sent (printed as 6/21/2016)
In 2008 the Surface Transportation Board voted to approve Canadian National's purchase of the Elgin, Joliet, Eastern Railway. This line know as the J" is recognized as the existing rail bypass for the Chicago area. With only one spur running into Chicago proper. In announcing the decision, Board Chairman Charles D. Nottingham stated: "Approval of this important railroad merger, with the conditions we have imposed, marks a significant step forward in our nation's efforts to alleviate rail and highway congestion. I am pleased that the Board agreed, in a bipartisan and unanimous manner, after an unprecedented public involvement process, to grant the relief that this merger will provide to the many Chicago neighborhoods that have been disproportionately burdened for many decades with severe rail traffic-related roadway congestion." This decision acknowledged the severe environmental impact this acquisition would have on the local communities. If the simple purchase of an existing line caused the STB concern for the environment and resulted in the following conditions being placed on the CN operations. "The mitigation includes: •Two highway-rail grade separation projects (and requires applicants to bear 67 percent of the cost of one and 78.5 percent of the cost of the other); •Cameras to monitor highway-rail crossings to assist in the timely response of emergency providers; •School and pedestrian safety measures; •Noise reduction measures; and •A 5-year environmental reporting requirement mandating applicants to file quarterly reports on the implementation of the Board-imposed environmental mitigation. In addition, the Board imposed a 5-year, formal oversight period, with applicants required to submit monthly operational reports to the Board. Finally, the Board's decision also requires applicants to comply with mandatory labor protection, with their extensive voluntary environmental mitigation, and with the negotiated agreements that they have entered into with Amtrak and communities in Illinois and Indiana containing tailored mitigation that applicants have agreed to provide." Then please explain the many mitigations that you will impose on the Great Lakes Basin Transportation Company, if you disregard the environment and approve this line. GLB 's founder has publically stated the railway will pay for all costs and this must include 100% of the cost for safety and monitoring equipment including the quiet zones, lights gates and flashers, camera monitoring and all the other safety measures needed to ensure a completely quiet line, as GLB had repeatedly stated in public they will pay for. In addition, please explain why if Canadian National has a railway bypass already that the STB approved, and Union Pacific has already stated they will not use this line, and these are the two class one railroads in Milton Wisconsin, why is this line needed? One company already has a bypass approved and praised by the STB despite huge environmental concerns, and the other company has stated they will not use the line. Please explain why this line is needed when in Indiana the area the line ends in is currently primarily served by Canadian National, which has it's own bypass, and Norfolk Southern, the other major Class One Railroad that has publically stated they do not intend to use this route? So if the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern lines both say they will not use the line and they are at it's stopping and ending point, and Canadian National is also at these points and already has an STB approved bypass, why is this bypass needed? Who will it serve? The three major lines in these areas do not need or want this line?"
Submitted by: Dennis Scheppler
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-24004 · back to the docket sheet