What's happening

In September, Canadian National announced it had an agreement to buy the major portion of the EJ&E from U.S. Steel for $300 million. The 198-mile EJ&E runs through Chicago's suburbs from Waukegan, Ill., to Gary.

If federal regulators approve the purchase, Canadian National would reroute trains that currently roll into Chicago onto the EJ&E tracks.

Towns such as Griffith, Schererville and Dyer would see a three-fold increase in train traffic under the plan.

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

Canadian National Railway's $60 million environmental mitigation plan for its purchase of the EJ&E Railway does not specifically address what Griffith officials contend will be a "devastating" effect on their town.

A voluminous Canadian National filing submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday does not deal with issues raised by Griffith, a town that has seven rail crossings on the EJ&E line.

"One option available for Griffith would be if we could reach a voluntary mitigation plan with Griffith, like we did with Joliet," said Karen Phillips, Canadian National vice president for North American governmental affairs.

Canadian National filed its comments one day after the town of Griffith called for overpasses at the two busiest EJ&E crossings in its own filing with the Surface Transportation Board. The town pegged the estimated cost of an overpass at Broad Street at $19 million and one at Main Street at $12 million.

It wants Canadian National to pay the entire cost of each.

"The proposed acquisition of the EJ&E by the CN would have a devastating effect on the town by cutting the town in half," stated the Tuesday filing with the Surface Transportation Board.

Canadian National's 247-page filing only mentions Griffith three times. It is listed in a table showing gates would be down an average of 1 hour and 20 minutes per day in the town. A second table shows the railroad's calculation of the net increase in trains through Griffith.

In a third table, a footnote states the cost/benefits of grade separations for Griffith are not calculated because it is not in Illinois.

Canadian National in its filing said, "Grade separations or other mitigation" should be required at only two crossings on the 198-mile arc of the EJ&E. Both those crossings are in Joliet, and the railroad already has entered into a voluntary agreement with the city on mitigation measures.

Those measures do not include overpasses, Phillips said.

However, the Canadian National filing also outlines 13 elements for addressing safety, which could be applied at crossings all along the EJ&E.
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