Glenview pushes back on Amtrak Hiawatha service expansion Draft Environmental Assessment

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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David Wilson

A northern suburb of Chicago, Glenview, has rejected the findings of the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) to expand Amtrak's Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago.

The Village of Glenview Board of Trustees passed a resolution objecting to the findings in Draft EA based on the impact to local residents, lack of long-term solutions proposed by the expansion and a lack of need for service expansion.

The Draft EA was released Oct. 6 by the Federal Rail Administration (FRA), the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). It outlines Amtrak’s proposed expansion of its Milwaukee to Chicago service from seven to 10 daily trips to meet existing and future passenger rail demand.

A key issue for the village is the proposed elevated 10,000-foot holding track for freight trains that would be built between West Lake Avenue and Techny Road in Glenview.

“The Environmental Assessment fails to present clear and convincing evidence for the need to expand the Hiawatha service as proposed in the project,” Deputy Village Manager Don Owen said. “It really creates more questions than it answers. We know construction of the holding track within a highly-populated residential area would potentially create more noise, diesel fumes and a 10,000-foot-long wall of ugly steel freight and coal containers parked in our neighborhood.”

Village officials worked with an individual identified as a local rail expert to review and analyze the Draft EA, focusing its objections on three areas:

  • Need: The village cites the Draft EA indicates Hiawatha ridership is less than 40 percent of the current capacity and questions the need for the holding track if the data included does not support the need for expansion. The Draft EA indicates that Amtrak changed its methodology for calculating ridership in 2014, which resulted in a lower ridership in 2014, but noted that Hiawatha Service trains typically operated in 2008‐2014 with 416 seats and Hiawatha Service seats were more than 90 percent occupied when on‐board ridership exceeded 374 riders.
  • Impacts on residents: Glenview says the Draft EA did not include data on air quality, noise and other health and safety impacts to residents living adjacent to the proposed holding track. The village believes the potential negative impacts are enough to warrant an Environmental Impact Statement. Glenview also questions what kind of impact idling trains would have on property values.
  • Lack of long-term solutions: The village said the Draft EA does not address serious rail congestion in the area, noting that the issue “demands more serious consideration and evaluation.”

“We need a fiscally responsible, big-picture approach that provides long-term solutions to alleviate passenger and rail congestion issues for the entire region, not some ill-conceived, short-term ‘Band-aid,’ ” Owen said.

The village intends to file a formal letter of objection with WisDOT, IDOT and the FRA during the Draft EA public comment period, which is open through Nov. 15.

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