Barrington Hills

Message to CN Railway – Stop, Look and LEAVE Barrington Alone

As CN Railway Corp. pushes forward with plans to re-route their freight trains through downtown Barrington, residents here are fighting back. An estimated 1600 people gathered at an open house today at Makray Memorial Golf Course to give CN executives a piece of their minds. From local officials, to business and home owners, to moms and dads who fear for their kids’ safety, there was a packed house at today’s Surface Transportation Board’s public meeting.

Worried that it may be their only chance to speak up, few were shy about voicing their concerns. “People will die on the way to the hospital.” Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Communications Director, Mike Deering, cut straight to the chase with Phillis Johnson-Ball. She’s on the Federal board that is reviewing the environmental impact of CN Railway’s plan. The Canadian freight company has agreed to pay $300-million for the EJ&E Railway which cuts straight through Barrington. It’s a plan that would nearly quadruple freight traffic downtown, from five trains to more than 20 trains a day.

“If anyone goes into cardiac arrest in downtown Barrington and there’s a freight train passing through, for every one minute treatment is delayed, the mortality rate goes up 10-percent. Getting stuck behind a freight train for five minutes would give them a 50/50 chance of survival.” Deering also points out that of the 750 trauma patients treated at Good Shepherd in 2007, 28% of them originated on the “other side of the tracks.” With CN’s planned freight trains running from 7,000 to 10,000 feet in length, the trains can take 4 to 6 minutes or longer to pass through town. There are EJ&E crossings on Ela road, Cuba Road, Lake Zurich Road, Route 14, Route 59, Lake Cook Road, Otis Road, Penny Road as well as crossing the Union Pacific tracks in the Village of Barrington.

Area officials have noted that, from end-to-end, one train stopped in the right location could block all major intersections in Barrington. “There’s probably not a worse community that they could go through, in terms of configuration,” according to Barrington Community Schools Superintendent, Tom Leonard, who says District 220 buses cross the EJ&E tracks more than 370 times a day. Dr. Joseph Giangrasso, the medical director for Good Shepherd’s trauma center puts it bluntly, “I’m not exaggerating when I say, lives can – and very likely will be lost through this proposition.”

Barrington Police Chief, Jeff Lawler, also made a point of speaking up to Johnson-Ball. His first concern? Emergency access to Barrington High School and to North Barrington. He has already mapped out backup emergency routes which might be required should freight trains force a detour. He says that the quickest detour would more than double the distance from police headquarters to Barrington High School and that it would be a nearly 10 mile detour around the rail crossings just to get to North Barrington – typically just a few miles from the center of town. He also points out that there were two pedestrian train fatalities in Barrington in the last months of 2007 and warns that these types of deaths will rise with an increase in train traffic.

As voices of worry filled the room, CN Railway Corp. Senior Manager, Jim Kvedaras, made the case that their plans would actually benefit Barrington – on a broader scale. “This is about railroad efficiences and smooth operations. It allows a nice, convenient bypass route around the City of Chicago that will benefit the entire region.” The company plans to invest about $100 Million “for integration, new connections, and infrastructure improvements to add capacity on the EJ&E line and allow network synergies to be realized over time.” CN’s President and CEO says the acquisition will benefit Chicago in three ways: “It will reduce rail congestion, it will increase rail freight capacity and it will benefit the environment, with fewer idling locomotives and fewer blocked crossings…Together we can find the right way to balance the needs of communities with the regional need for a cleaner, safer environment and a more efficient rail transportation network.” Kvedares echoed that message today assuring that the company will consider concerns and cooperate fully with the environmental review process.

But all of that talk was off point for many. “I have four young girls who cross the tracks to get to school, the parks, everywhere. How do we do that? What are our options?” A mom seemed desperate when she asked that question today, a tone of anger clearly present. Another mother and Jewel Park resident, Jeanne Kelly, asked “Do we have to wait for an accident to occur? We don’t want that to happen.” In response, the Surface Transportation Board’s Phillis Johnson-Ball said they would work diligently to address these concerns and find ways to “mitigate” them. Her response sounded to Jeanne Kelly like this may be more of a done deal than a pending decision, as though it’s not a matter of whether but under what terms they’ll approve the acquisition. When Jeanne asked about precidents, Johnson-Ball said the most recent major train line acquisition happened back in July of 1998, when the CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway Companies successfully acquired Conrail to improve “efficiencies” within their companies. They had the same community open houses then as they had in Barrington today. In the end, despite the most vehement protests, the board approved that acquisition. Johnson-Ball says simply, “the issues of economics and competition favored the railroad. The environmental impacts, once mitigated, were not significant.”

After today, five more open houses will take place in other communites along the EJ&E West train line. The Surface Transportation Board will be accepting written comments from the public through the end of this month. After that, they will draft an Enviornmental Impact Statement and will either reject CN Railway’s proposal, approve the acquisition or accept the plan with conditions. Surface Transportation Board officials say the study could take up to 18 months to complete, but CN execs have said they’re hopeful to close this deal by the end of 2008.

If you have an opinion on the subject and would like to pass it along, you can get involved through the Barrington Communities Against CN Rail Congestion Website, FightRailCongestion.com. You’ll find information about the upcoming open houses and where to mail your personal comments at the Surface Transportation Board’s Website. If you would simply like to comment right here on our blog, please feel free. We’d love your feedback and would be happy to keep the conversation going in what is sure to be a continuing controversy.

Written by Suzanne & Liz Luby
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
303 East Main Street Suite 100
Barrington, IL 60010
Suzanne’s Cell: 847-922-7773
Liz’s Cell: 847-691-3150
Website: TheLubyGroup.com

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Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Barrington, Illinois
Suzanne’s Cell: 847-922-7773
Liz’s Cell: 847-691-3150