BY KEITH BENMAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
kbenman@nwitimes.com
A statewide freight study will contain ideas on how communities can deal with Canadian National Railway's proposed purchase of the EJ&E Railway, which would increase train traffic threefold in some towns and cities.
The study, started in June 2007, should be ready for delivery by this January, said Barbara Sloan, of Cambridge Systematics.
CN proposed buying the EJ&E in September, when the freight study was already well along, but it is too big a deal to ignore, Sloan said.
"We are certainly taking a look at it," Sloan said. "You can't ignore something of that scale."
Sloan presented an update on the freight study to the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission's Transportation Policy Committee on Tuesday at its monthly meeting.
Cambridge Systematics is preparing the study, called the Indiana Multimodal Freight and Mobility Plan, for the Indiana Department of Transportation. It will outline ways cities and towns can prepare for, and benefit from, increases in rail and other freight traffic.
The study comes as communities from Griffith to Barrington, Ill., are fighting CN's proposed purchase of the EJ&E, which they fear will gridlock their streets.
That's because CN plans on shifting many of the trains it now runs into Chicago onto the EJ&E tracks, which circle the city in an arc running from Waukegan, Ill,. to Gary.
On Tuesday, NIRPC Executive Director John Swanson briefed the Transportation Policy Committee on the latest actions in the regulatory battle over CN's purchase of the EJ&E.
On May 13, CN requested that the federal Surface Transportation Board expedite its decision in the matter. The railroad wants an environmental impact study now under way finished by Dec. 1, and it wants the board to grant approval by the end of the year.
The railroad told regulators in its filing that opponents hope to use the regulatory review process to stall the transaction "until it dies," or to make it economically unfeasible.
Swanson on Tuesday called that language inflammatory and said local communities have real, serious concerns about CN's proposal.
"Northwest Indiana will be bearing the costs associated with CN's purchase of the EJ&E and won't necessarily reap any benefits," Swanson said.
Swanson on Tuesday told the committee the region's congressional delegation has joined with congressional representatives in Illinois to oppose CN's call for an expedited decision. Gov. Mitch Daniels also has submitted a filing opposing any time limits on the federal agency's review process.