Dyer opposes CN rail expansion

BY MARY WILDS, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent

DYER | The Town Council formally kicked off its petition drive against the Canadian National Railway's plans to purchase the EJ&E Railway.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution last week stating the town's opposition to the purchase.

Town officials throughout northern Lake County are alarmed over CN's forecasts that rail traffic at some EJ&E crossings will triple under the railroad's plan to take rail traffic out of Chicago's urban core.

Dyer Town Manager Joe Neeb said CN's proposed acquisition will increase train traffic in the area by 60 percent, something town officials say will negatively affect residents' quality of life.

Schererville officials estimate one-third of the town's residents use Kennedy Avenue for their daily work commute. Schererville Town Councilman Tom Schmitt has said that if the increase in trains is anywhere near rush hour, the town will be gridlocked.

CN officials have said critics of the purchase have exaggerated claims of negative environmental impacts.

Gates at EJ&E crossings would be down less than 10 percent of any day, CN President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison said in mid-March. The average wait at a crossing would increase by about 40 seconds, due to the longer trains, according to CN projections.

Residents and others who attended last week's Dyer Town Council meeting spoke in favor of the petition.

"CN does a bad job of keeping crossings open" in Munster, said Bob Golding, a Munster attorney who is developing property along Joliet Street in Dyer.

CN is involved in an environmental impact study on the proposal that could take eight months to a year to complete.

The Dyer petition will be sent to the federal Surface Transportation Board. Similar petition drives have sprung up in other Lake County communities.