Griffith third town to approve deal with Canadian National

The town council approved the agreement by a 4-1 vote, saying it is a necessary step to protect the town should CN's proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. be approved by the federal government.

"We're obviously doing the best we can to protect our citizens," said Griffith Council President Rick Ryfa. "Every indication from that (environmental) study and every comment coming out of Washington on this hasn't mentioned Griffith much, so if we relied on the Surface Transportation Board to dictate what the mitigation should be, we're going to get shortchanged."

The federal Surface Transportation Board, which regulates railroad purchases, will decide any day whether or not to approve the $300 million transaction. The recommendations so far from transportation board staff have been modest in terms of helping Northwest Indiana communities cope with the increase in train traffic that would come with the proposed purchase.

The number of trains on the EJ&E tracks in Gary, Griffith, Schererville and Dyer is expected to triple if the deal is approved, and the new trains would be longer as well, with the average length expected to top 1.2 miles.

Negotiations between Griffith and CN?officials went back and forth over the weekend, with Griffith balking at early proposals it thought were too lenient, and CN balking at later requests it thought were too generous.

"I believe this is the final offer. ... We're very pleased with the deal we were able to strike with them," said Ryfa, emphasizing that their first choice would still be that the EJ&E purchase be scuttled by the government.

Councilman Stan Dobosz, the lone dissenter, said he voted against the proposal for just that reason, saying that reaching an agreement makes it that much easier for the government to approve the purchase.

"I'm still 100 percent opposed to the transaction," Dobosz said. "I'm hoping by opposing this" mitigation agreement we can stop it.

Griffith now joins Dyer and Schererville as the third local community to reach an agreement with CN. Talks have not yet advanced between CN and Gary.

Some of the roughly $6 million worth of provisions Griffith will receive under the agreement include: