By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune staff writer
Its impact on regional development efforts, however, is less clear.
The sale has potential implications for the expansion of the Gary/Chicago International Airport, the extension of the South Shore Railroad, and the development of the Marquette Plan.
South Shore
The federal Surface Transportation Board -- the agency tasked with regulating railroad purchases -- put together a draft environmental analysis of the transaction, detailing many of the local impacts the sale would have.
Absent from the analysis, however, was a discussion about how it would affect the South Shore, which hopes to use Canadian National's right-of-way between Valparaiso and Munster as part of the western leg of its expansion effort. That leg crosses the EJ&E line in Griffith. The southern leg, which would extend from Munster to Lowell, would use a CSX track that crosses both the EJ&E in Dyer and the CN in Munster.
Negotiations with the CN to build a track to Valparaiso on CN's right-of-way are not expected to be impacted by the sale. Crossings in Griffith, where the western leg of the South Shore and the EJ&E would meet, would be more difficult.
Crossing the EJ&E track on the southern leg in Dyer would also be more difficult, while crossing the CN track in Munster would become less so.
"I don't think the CN acquisition is the linchpin of this project," said South Shore General Manager Jerry Hanas, pointing instead to questions of funding and how to phase construction. "But it would have been nice to figure that out. ... That was the whole point of the analysis that they didn't do. That's their job."
South Shore spokesman John Parsons said there are benefits for the current South Shore line in the transaction, which would reduce freight traffic where the South Shore crosses a CN line to link up with Metra at Illinois' Kensington stop.
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District will be filing a series of formal comments to the transportation board asking that review of those impacted intersections be included in the final environmental report.
Marquette Plan
Gary City Planning Director Chris Meyers offered a similar critique on the draft environmental report, saying that it should have addressed possible impacts on lakefront development.
Gary and East Chicago are working on a large redevelopment project that will include East Chicago's Indiana Harbor neighborhood, Gary's Buffington Harbor neighborhood, and a 1.5 mile stretch of shoreline along the two cities' border. The project is part of the regional Marquette Vision that aims to open up 75 percent of the Lake Michigan shoreline to the public.
Part of the redevelopment calls for the relocation of rail lines, including the EJ&E, away from the shoreline. CN is not proposing to change the traffic levels on that part of the EJ&E, however, which is why lakefront issues were not included in the environmental impact study.
But Gary wants to make sure that the transportation board realizes how important not disturbing its lakefront plans is.
"This is several billion dollars of development that will overshadow anything CN brings to the area, and an analysis of the development on the lakefront (should be a factor) in whatever the decision the Surface Transportation Board makes," Meyers said at a meeting between the transportation board's environmental committee and local communities.
Gary airport
Early objections to CN's purchase proposal centered around it's potential slowdown of talks between the EJ&E and the Gary/Chicago International Airport.
The two sides had been involved in lengthy negotiations about moving the EJ&E tracks on the western edge of the airport that were crowding its main runway and inhibiting the airport's runway expansion project.
Rep. Pete Visclosky took a very public stance against the sale, saying that the addition of CN to the mix at the airport would not improve the likelihood that a deal would be struck.
Over the summer, however, a preliminary agreement was reached between the airport and the three nearby railroads on the relocation of the EJ&E, though a final agreement has not yet been reached.
Airport Director Chris Curry, for his part, does not see foresee a problem if the sale goes through, saying, "It's not really an issue for us as it pertains to the airport."