STB official says CN has to abide by 2008 EJ&E bridges decision

The chairman of the Surface Transportation Board said Canadian National Railway will have to stick to the terms of his agency's original decision on its acquisition of the EJ&E Railway, including funding a rail overpass in Lynwood, Ill., Northwest Indiana Times reports.

"We are fully behind
that decision," said Surface Transportation Board Chairman Dan Elliott.
"And we will defend it in court."

By June 7, the agency
plans to submit a brief in defense of the decision and the mitigation measures
it ordered in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The
requirement that Canadian National fund the bulk of the cost of railroad
overpasses in Lynwood and Aurora, Ill., was challenged by the railroad just
months after the transportation board approved its $300-million acquisition of
the EJ&E.

"Since I’ve come on
the board, I’ve heard how important this is to all of you," Elliot told
about 50 concerned residents at the New Lenox Village Hall. "And I said I
would make this one of my top priorities when I came on."

Elliott was sworn in as
Surface Transportation Board chairman in August. He is a former associate
general counsel for the United Transportation Union.

Elliott was invited to
the town hall forum by U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill. Elliott, Will County
Executive Larry Walsh and Suzanne Devane, representing The Regional Answer to
Canadian National (TRAC), joined Halvorson on a panel to answer audience
questions.

"We are here today
to stand together to make sure Canadian National abides by what they said they
would do," Halvorson said in her opening statement.

Many at the forum wanted
the original transportation board decision reversed, saying the impact on the
environment and their communities have been far greater than anything outlined
in the original environmental impact statement that was part of the decision.

"It’s just another
case of a very big business coming and telling the communities and the Surface
Transportation Board what they needed to hear," said Ralph Flens, of
Schererville. "And now it’s catch-me-if-you-can."

CN contends that
requiring it to pay such a high proportion of the costs for railroad
overpasses, 79 percent in the case of Lynwood, is a radical departure from past
transportation board practices. Both overpasses would cost the railroad approximately
$70 million in total.

Canadian National
spokesman Patrick Waldron pointed out 22 communities along the EJ&E route
have signed voluntary mitigation agreements with the railroad. The railroad
will undertake $60 million in mitigation projects altogether, exclusive of the
two overpasses.

The transportation
board’s December 2008 decision came after more than one year of public
hearings.

Elliott would not say
what the audience seemed to want to hear, which is that he would work to
overturn the original decision; although when reporters questioned him later,
he would not rule that out.

At the 45-minute town
hall forum, he emphasized the current court case and measures to enforce the
current decision, including a recent audit of Canadian National’s performance
in living up to the decision’s stipulations. In one case, that audit found more
than 1,400 blockages of road crossings of 10 minutes or more in November and
December, a period when Canadian National reported only 14 such blockages. The
railroad disputes the audit’s finding.

Elliott also toured some
of the communities affected by the acquisition and met with small businesses
that are now served by Canadian National rather than the EJ&E.