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CN-EJ&E update: Outer-ring Chicago suburbs got fewer trains, not more (The following appeared on the Chicago Sun-Times website on August 3, 2009.) CHICAGO — Where are all the trains? When the Canadian National Railway Co. won federal approval to buy the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. line for $300 million last December, outer-ring suburbs like Barrington and Plainfield worried about the effects of heavy freight traffic. But according to the most recent CN report to the federal Surface Transportation Board, fears about freight traffic on the 198-mile line haven't yet materialized. That's because the bad economy has resulted in freight traffic volumes that have been lower than they were before the EJ&E purchase, according to CN spokesman Patrick Waldron. CN reported that it has not diverted any CN trains formerly running on Chicago and inner-suburban tracks onto the EJ&E beyond one northbound and one southbound train moved onto the line in March. It also rerouted a train from Canada onto the EJ&E line. But the overall train count remains "below pre-transaction levels" for June 2009, CN said. Barrington Village President Karen Darch, part of a coalition of local officials that oppose the EJ&E acquisition, said she had noticed less freight early in the summer, but in the last two weeks has seen a slight increase. She said suburbs along the EJ&E line are not just concerned about heavier rail traffic, but safety. She noted a June derailment in Rockford that resulted in an explosion of ethanol-carrying rail cars and the death of a woman. She also pointed to another derailment in Buffalo Grove in January. The Surface Transportation Board had found that 15 railroad crossings from the northern suburbs to northern Indiana would see big increases in freight-caused traffic delays as a result of the EJ&E purchase -- and suburbs expressed fears about ambulances not being able to get to hospitals. CN had argued that 60 communities in Chicago and the suburbs would experience rail congestion relief, roughly twice the number that would see more traffic. Some track segments not on the EJ&E line have seen substantial drops in traffic, including the Markham-to-Matteson segment of the CN line, which saw a drop of 12.6 trains a day before the sale to 6.1 trains a day in June, according to the CN report. The coalition opposing the EJ&E purchase is appealing the transportation board's approval of the transaction. Monday, August 03, 2009 © 1997-2010 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

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