Canadian National Railway chief pleads for understanding on EJ&E purchase

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

Canadian National Railway is complaining of "exaggerated" claims of negative environmental impacts by those opposing its proposed purchase of the EJ&E Railway.

"We believe that the facts will demonstrate that the EJ&E transaction would not only reduce traffic congestion in the nation's critical Chicago rail hub, but that the transaction would also have a positive overall impact on the environment of the region," CN President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison said in a press release on Monday.

CN is reacting to the approximately 3,000 public comments sent to the federal Surface Transportation Board during its comment period to determine the scope of an environmental impact statement.

In filed comments, towns and cities that host EJ&E tracks called for CN to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for projects to mitigate the effects of increased train traffic.

The town of Griffith, in a filing with the transportation board, called for the railroad to fund the construction of three overpasses at a total cost of $46 million. It also says a new firehouse and new fire truck would be needed, along with eight more firefighters.

The Griffith filing contends that three of its downtown streets would be "gridlocked, creating havoc" for nearby residents and businesses. CN's own projections show the number of trains there increasing to 34 per day from 10.

"What they are basically doing is taking the problem out of Chicago with all their traffic and moving it to the suburbs, which is where we are," Griffith Town Councilman Stan Dobosz said.

More worrisome for CN may be two pages of comments filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which says it wants clarification on everything from invasive species protection to the effects of diesel emissions from trains and trucks.

In September, CN announced it had agreement to buy the EJ&E for $300 million. It had hoped to close the transaction by the middle of this year. It now has shifted its target date for completion to the end of this year.

Transportation board officials have indicated it could take even longer, with preparation of a final environmental impact statement taking a year or more. The environmental impact statement must be completed before the three board members can render a verdict on the proposed transaction.

CN's Harrison on Monday pleaded for community leaders to adopt a "more balanced" perspective toward the transaction.

He reiterated traffic delays at crossings would be reduced for the Chicago region as whole, mainly due to the shifting of traffic from Chicago's urban core to the EJ&E, which runs for 198 miles from Waukegan, Ill., to Gary.

Gates at EJ&E crossings would be down less than 10 percent of any day, he stated. The average wait at a crossing would increase by about 40 seconds, due to the longer trains, according to CN projections.

The claims being made by towns, cities and others appear to be unrealistic and can only fuel resistance to change, Harrison said.