Canadian National Railway praises Gary airport track deal

BY KEITH BENMAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
kbenman@nwitimes.com

Canadian National Railway contends an agreement to move railroad tracks at the Gary/Chicago International Airport should speed federal review of its purchase of the EJ&E Railway.

"CN welcomes this agreement and salutes key stakeholders for working cooperatively to resolve engineering issues related to Gary/Chicago International Airport's expansion," Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison said Friday.

The railroad wants to purchase the EJ&E for $300 million, but closing the deal is being held up by an environmental review ordered by the federal Surface Transportation Board.

CN's plan to reroute trains that now run through Chicago, to the EJ&E's tracks in the city's suburbs and Northwest Indiana, has aroused fierce opposition in local communities.

Such communities as Griffith and Barrington, Ill., fear increases in rail traffic could snarl roads through their towns.

The airport deal represents CN's first major concession to those who criticized its plans to buy the EJ&E.

The airport, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., and other local organizations have all protested the deal in part because it could hold up airport expansion.

On Friday, Visclosky said his opposition to the deal remains steadfast. The congressman said it took nerve for CN to assert federal approval should now be sped up.

"They're behaving like a 6-year-old who tastes his vegetables and demands desert," Visclosky said. "The acquisition would hurt our quality of life and threaten our public safety, and I still oppose it."

Harrison maintains the deal will be in the best interests of the region.

"The end result will also ensure a fluid, effective rail network in Northwest Indiana," Harrison said. "This is important to CN and to the region's economy."

CN will be bound to honor the Gary airport's agreement with the EJ&E and other railroads upon regulatory approval of the EJ&E purchase, Harrison said.

Harrison said the agreement with railroads also will support CN's plans to develop Gary's Kirk Yards, where it wants to establish a major railcar-sorting hub for its North American operations.