CN Railroad's possible rerouting around the city (Chicago, Elmhurst: living, dangerous)

[mendelman]

Question: Some people here keep talking about the State having to pay for the construction of over/underpasses to alleviate the traffic conflicts in certain affected localities.

I don't think the State should have to bear the burden. If the individual locality has a problem with the frequency of rail traffic interfering with road traffic, then it should incumbent upon that locality or group of localities to pay for it.

At worse, you may get the county in which the site is located paying for the infrastructure, but I do not think it would be the State's responsibility.

Or, if Senator Stevens can get some federal pork public improvement money for a bridge to nowhere, maybe the Federal Reps/ Senators for the individual localities should lobby Congress for the money. I would be happier with the cost being spread across 150 million taxpayers than 12 million.

[Drover]

The state and county obviously need to be involved where state and county highways are affected. Additionally, it's not just the municipalities that are impacted. People who live elsewhere but travel through those municipalities to get from point A to point B are also affected. It's not strictly a local issue.

[openspace]

State of IL testified in August that they have no money to fund any under or over passes. This is all a pipe dream. It won't happen because no one can pay for it.
CREATE was developed years back to relieve freight congestion in Chicago and never got proper federal or state funding. Somehow people think the government would have money to pay for mitigation for this transaction??
This deal will not happen. CN is running out of time and they've already sunk millions into this. They want to pay 40 or 50 million in mitigation. Early this week a planning agency stated CN needs to set aside $150M for mitigation.
Bottom line- it would cost CN a lot more than they originally plan. Also, fedaral political climate is against this. Obama, Durbin and a number of congresspeople are against this.

[openspace]

Any federal funds available should go to give relief (e.g, grade separation) to areas where CN trains are currently and /or properly fund CREATE VS. spreading limited funds so thin by approving the EJ&E deal- then you double the areas needing mitigation

[mendelman]

Well, as was pretty much a certain, the Feds approved the sale on 12/24.

Hopefully, there isn't much resistance and CN doesn't drag its feet on getting the operations going.

[At1WithNature]

anyone know which towns will be the most effected? in other words, what towns will have increased traffic backing up due to these obnoxiously long freight trains possibly running through certian towns 20-24 times a day?

[chet everett]

CN is not going to be in rush to spend its own money with the "shovel ready" project list growing by the minute...

Of course the environmental impact types and the Barrington area connected whinners can slow this down a lot too...

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by mendelman

Well, as was pretty much a certain, the Feds approved the sale on 12/24.

Hopefully, there isn't much resistance and CN doesn't drag its feet on getting the operations going.

Hope not either. Good to see that some rail traffic will be alleviated around here! We will still suffer from more rail traffic than they will even with the rerouting. Everyone must do their part and all.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by chet everett

CN is not going to be in rush to spend its own money with the "shovel ready" project list growing by the minute...

Of course the environmental impact types and the Barrington area connected whinners can slow this down a lot too...

"Environmental impact" types can only do so much because the track is already laid down. If they were looking to create a brand-new corridor then the "environmental impact" issue would be much more effective. And while Barrington's whining can get the attention of local powers-that-be, Washington will barely notice much less acknowledge it, and railroads fall almost totally under federal jurisdiction.

[60-minutes-II]

This is going to stink for the people in barrington. The area seems so peaceful with open spaces and deers crossing the roads. Now there is going to be trains passing through. Its going to make traffic worse A LOT worse.