Donovan Estridge, LaPorte Herald-destridge@heraldargus.com
LA PORTE COUNTY -- Another major railroad has potentially derailed any possibility of a rail intermodal facility by coming forward and confirming its lack of interest in La Porte County.
According to Canadian National Railway spokesman Jim Kvedaras, the Quebec based railroad has "never been interested" in locating in the county and has "turned down numerous requests to negotiate" in bringing a facility to the area.
"As I have said all along," Kvedaras told The La Porte County Herald-Argus Sunday night.
"We currently have a facility in Illinois that isn't near capacity. I think we have been very consistent in having no interest in building another facility."
Although Kvedaras wouldn't elaborate on the specifics, he confirmed that he has been contacted by everyone from the media to economic developers about the potential of a local intermodal facility.
And in all of those contacts, he has always said "no."
It would seem the intermodal feasibility in La Porte County has hit a major snag. That problem is compounded with the news that rail giant CSX Intermodal plans on building a facility in Ohio and not La Porte County. Also, county officials have stated that Norfolk Southern Corp., which runs through the Pinola area, is out of the picture.
With the exodus of interest by major railroads seemingly in unison, county officials are toeing the line in regards to the future of a La Porte County intermodal.
"We have only dealt with the investors," La Porte County Council President Jerry Cooley told The Herald-Argus Sunday night. "The investors tell us they have committed the appropriate land. We are dealing with the private enterprise."
While the county deals with private investors, anti-intermodal groups such as Stop Intermodals/Save Our County say they have gone straight to the horse's mouth. In recent dealings with major railroads, SISOC Co-Chair Ty Murray has learned many big railroads told the county two years ago they were not interested in coming to the area.
"This isn't old news," Murray told The Herald-Argus Sunday. "Its just now it finally came to the surface but railroads have told me they weren't interested two years ago."
And because of that, Murray is questioning why the public has been told that a facility could locate to the area.
"Why couldn't we find this out sooner?" Murray asked. "These are just a lot of facts that haven't been brought to the surface."
Murray's suspicion has also drawn the ire of Cooley, who has questioned the need to commission tax dollars to the intermodal task force if a proposal hasn't been on the table.
"I've always said we should never invest until we have a proposal on the table," Cooley said.
Cooley's comments come two weeks after the La Porte County Commission allotted more than $5,000 for the task force, which includes a planned trip to Elwood, Ill., this week and the airfare and hotel for another member to attend a conference in California.
"Maybe the investors should pay us back," Cooley said.
Cooley, however, still believes the information the county has received from the investors that is hopeful a facility could come to the county is good information.
"Everyone has been speculating," Cooley said. "I am going to wait until the facts are on the table."