Post by sushi on Apr 10, 2008 5:17:56 GMT -6
Voice against EJ&E sale gets stronger
Coalition to hold first meeting
April 10, 2008
By Paige Winfield pwinfield@scn1.com
Dozens of local municipal and county leaders are gathering Friday to organize their battle against the hotly disputed Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway sale.
Some 40 area officials from the collar counties and Indiana are expected to organize a board of directors for the coalition and may discuss hiring a lobbyist, said DuPage County Board member Jim Healy of Naperville.
BY THE NUMBERS
Trains crossing at Ogden Avenue will quadruple if Canadian National Railway purchases the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway. The 50,000 cars that cross the tracks each day may have to wait every half-hour for a train to pass.
10-12 Number of trains that currently cross Ogden Avenue each day.
40-48 Number of trains that would cross Ogden Avenue each day after the sale.
"(The sale) is going to adversely affect the health, safety and welfare of residents on either side of the railroad tracks," said Healy, who says Naperville and Aurora would be the areas most impacted by the sale due to their numerous at-grade crossings.
If the Surface Transportation Board allows the Canadian National Railway to purchase the line, rail traffic in the region will grow by 400 percent and 21 grade crossings in DuPage County will be affected.
Along with board member Pam Rion of Bloomingdale, Healy has been working for months with local officials to form the coalition.
Naperville City Councilwoman Darlene Senger will represent the city at Friday's meeting. The council agreed last week to join the consortium and contributeEdit Article $10,000 to hiring a lobbyist.
The DuPage County Board followed suit Tuesday, approving 15-2 on Tuesday a resolution appropriating up to $10,000 to the effort.
Rion said local leaders are strongly unified against the sale and are ready to take on what she calls an "uphill fight."
"This issue has a monumental impact to this region," she said. "The one advantage you have is every entity has joined forces in one unanimous voice to say this isn't good for the region."
When the coalition was first being formed, Healy thought its purpose would be chiefly to mitigate the sale's impact by acquiring government funding to turn some at-grade crossings into grade separations. Because nearly every similar railroad sale in the past 50 years has been approved, he thought the sale was inevitable.
But now that Illinois Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin; members of Congress including Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale; and many state senators and representatives have expressed their opposition to the sale, Healy said he believes it may actually be halted.
"With all these partners coming together, I'm not sure this is going to pass the transportation board," he said. "I think there's a very good chance, if we continue along these lines, that the sale will either be rejected by the STB or the mitigation requirements placed on it will be so onerous that they will decide not to go forward."
Coalition to hold first meeting
April 10, 2008
By Paige Winfield pwinfield@scn1.com
Dozens of local municipal and county leaders are gathering Friday to organize their battle against the hotly disputed Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway sale.
Some 40 area officials from the collar counties and Indiana are expected to organize a board of directors for the coalition and may discuss hiring a lobbyist, said DuPage County Board member Jim Healy of Naperville.
BY THE NUMBERS
Trains crossing at Ogden Avenue will quadruple if Canadian National Railway purchases the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway. The 50,000 cars that cross the tracks each day may have to wait every half-hour for a train to pass.
10-12 Number of trains that currently cross Ogden Avenue each day.
40-48 Number of trains that would cross Ogden Avenue each day after the sale.
"(The sale) is going to adversely affect the health, safety and welfare of residents on either side of the railroad tracks," said Healy, who says Naperville and Aurora would be the areas most impacted by the sale due to their numerous at-grade crossings.
If the Surface Transportation Board allows the Canadian National Railway to purchase the line, rail traffic in the region will grow by 400 percent and 21 grade crossings in DuPage County will be affected.
Along with board member Pam Rion of Bloomingdale, Healy has been working for months with local officials to form the coalition.
Naperville City Councilwoman Darlene Senger will represent the city at Friday's meeting. The council agreed last week to join the consortium and contributeEdit Article $10,000 to hiring a lobbyist.
The DuPage County Board followed suit Tuesday, approving 15-2 on Tuesday a resolution appropriating up to $10,000 to the effort.
Rion said local leaders are strongly unified against the sale and are ready to take on what she calls an "uphill fight."
"This issue has a monumental impact to this region," she said. "The one advantage you have is every entity has joined forces in one unanimous voice to say this isn't good for the region."
When the coalition was first being formed, Healy thought its purpose would be chiefly to mitigate the sale's impact by acquiring government funding to turn some at-grade crossings into grade separations. Because nearly every similar railroad sale in the past 50 years has been approved, he thought the sale was inevitable.
But now that Illinois Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin; members of Congress including Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale; and many state senators and representatives have expressed their opposition to the sale, Healy said he believes it may actually be halted.
"With all these partners coming together, I'm not sure this is going to pass the transportation board," he said. "I think there's a very good chance, if we continue along these lines, that the sale will either be rejected by the STB or the mitigation requirements placed on it will be so onerous that they will decide not to go forward."