CN makes their case to the courts for Chicago area rail acquisition

If you haven’t read our interview with Shaun Stevenson of the Prince Rupert Port Authority yet then you owe it to yourself to click on over and read it here. One of the topics covered in that interview was the CN (Canadian National Railway) proposed acquisition of the Elgin Joliet & Eastern Railway Company. As Shaun Stevenson explained in the interview:

Shaun Stevenson: Well the acquisition of that line would effectively bypass Chicago and the congestion that the rail system faces in the city of Chicago. You know, the city of Chicago has been working with all of the railways over the past 5-10 years to try to find some solutions and dealing with that chokepoint and trying to move some of that traffic outside of Chicago. So this acquisition that CN’s been working towards it really fits well with the goals and objectives of the city of Chicago and relieving some of those conflicts of freight traffic through the city where they use the same rail lines for public transportation during the daylight hours. From a supply chain management perspective, it would effectively eliminate a 12-24 hour lag in crossing the city of Chicago and get goods faster into the DCs in Memphis and Chicago.

3plwire: So why would some of the locals be against this plan?

Shaun Stevenson: Well the locals that are against it are in the area where the rail line transits through.

3plwire: So it’s more of a “Not-in-my-backyard” kind of a thing.

Shaun Stevenson: Yeah, absolutely. And so, you can certainly understand their concerns surrounding increased rail traffic on a line that for the most part’s been virtually dormant and under utilized. But from a city of Chicago or state of Illinois perspective this makes good transportation policy and permits Chicago to grow as distribution hub for the Midwest. For us it would just improve the efficiency of the network that links us into the Midwest, likely trim 20 hrs off the transit time into Memphis, actually.

The CN must be getting antsy, because they are taking their case to court and arguing for quick resolution of their proposed deal:

“We cannot permit regulatory delay to imperil this transaction,” said E. Hunter Harrison, CN’s president and chief executive officer.
He said “the transaction will be good for the Chicago region as a whole. It would ease rail congestion, which is critically important to the region’s economy and its continued role as one of America’s most important transportation hubs.”
He also contended “the transaction would benefit the environment of the overall Chicago region. For every community along the EJ&E line in the suburbs of Chicago that would see increased train traffic as a result of the transaction, nearly double that number along CN lines in inner Chicago would see decreased rail operations. In fact, roughly 60 communities inside the EJ&E arc would benefit from reduced train traffic as a result of the transaction. That would mean a better quality of life for residents of the Chicago region, with less pollution, fewer idling trains and fewer blocked crossings.”

Emphasis ours. It will be interesting to see if they are successful in getting the court to order the Surface Transportation Board to make a final decision.