Court Ruling on CN Tracks 'Not Good for Plainfield,' Goodson Says

A federal appeals court has ruled that Canadian National Railway does not have to lessen the environmental impact its purchase of the EJ&E Railroad will have on the communities that its tracks cross, including Plainfield.

“This is not good news for Plainfield and Will County,” Will County Board member Lee Ann Goodson, who represents Plainfield’s District 5, said in an e-mail.

“As the economic recovery continues, we will slowly realize the full impact of this merger.”

The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of about a dozen area towns that are part of TRAC (The Regional Answer to Canadian National), which works to protect the interests of towns and people who live near the – you guessed it – tracks. Plainfield had been part of the group but later withdrew.

TRAC includes municipal and county leaders from Lake, Cook, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will counties as well as some in northwest Indiana. It’s a bipartisan group that's focused on train-linked hassles, such as public safety, environment, traffic gridlock, emergency response times and economic losses, caused by CN's purchase of the EJ&E tracks.

While Plainfield may not be part of the group, it shares many of TRAC’s interests, Goodson said.

The village has 17 CN crossings within it boundaries, all but one of which intersects with local roads. The number of trains chugging through town is expected to escalate to as many as 50 a day; in 2007, the number was about 16, Goodson said. 

TRAC is disappointed with the March 15 court ruling, which spurned arguments asking that CN mitigate the environmental impacts its trains will have on area communities, according to statements on its Web site.

But it did get some wins.

The court is forcing CN to pay for grade separations - overpasses and underpasses - at Ogden Avenue in Aurora and Lincoln Highway in Lynwood. It also upheld the Surface Transportation Board’s right to impose broad mitigation mandates on railroad mergers. 

“We believe this decision by the federal court is ultimately a substantial win – not only for TRAC communities, but for all Americans impacted by rail operations,” TRAC co-chairman and Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said in a statement on the organization's Web site.

“Railroads will now understand that they cannot make business decisions that ravage communities and then just walk away from the harms they are causing,” he wrote.

A small group of Will County board members is heading to Washington, D.C., next week to present its legislative agenda, Goodson said. Canadian National train traffic concerns will be one of them, she said.