FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Jason Gerwig
630-407-6022
July 10, 2008

SCHILLERSTROM IN WASHINGTON D.C. TO VOICE COUNTY CONCERNS REGARDING EJ&E ACQUISITION

WHEATON — DuPage County Board Chairman Robert J. Schillerstrom is in Washington D.C. to meet with the Federal Railroad Administration, the Surface Transportation Board and key Congressional staffers, to express the County’s concerns with the potential acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) by Canadian National Railway Company (CN), and to prepare for the next steps in this process. 

“We have serious concerns about the impact this acquisition will have on our quality of life in DuPage County,” said Schillerstrom.  “That is why I felt it was important to meet with those who will ultimately make this decision.  I wanted them to hear first hand about the impacts it would have along our railways, and the disruptions it will cause in our communities.”

From the outset, DuPage County has had serious concerns about the proposed CN/EJ&E transaction, which will have enormous potential environmental impacts on DuPage County and on a larger number of other communities in the Chicago metropolitan area.  It will also increase noise pollution and increase traffic congestion throughout DuPage County.    

“The proposed acquisition by Canadian National will transfer and reassign railroad freight traffic that currently runs over CN railroad lines in the City of Chicago to segments of the EJ&E railroad lines north, south, west and east of Chicago, including heavily populated areas in the western portions of DuPage County,” notes Schillerstrom.  “It is paramount that our residents’ safety is not impacted by this transaction.”

In addition to meetings on this acquisition, the Chairman is on a fact-finding mission to understand the expansion of rail freight in the future and its impact on the region, and to begin discussing potential solutions.