Norfolk Southern Passes on Proposed Chicago Bypass Rail
Norfolk Southern railroad has reiterated to federal regulators that it will not use a railroad proposed by Great Lakes Basin Transportation as a bypass around Chicago's congestion.
An attorney for Norfolk Southern Corp. wrote in a Dec. 2 letter to the federal Surface Transportation Board that "Norfolk Southern reiterates its prior message to the STB that it has no plans to use the proposed route," which would run through LaPorte, Porter and Lake counties.
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Norfolk Southern's statement is a response to information Great Lakes Basin Transportation submitted to STB on Nov. 10, detailing anticipated railroad traffic along various segments of the proposed 260-mile freight railroad.
Norfolk Southern told STB it did not provide any input for the traffic projections.
"Therefore, to the extent the projections that Great Lakes Basin Transportation made in its Nov. 10, 2016, response include Norfolk Southern traffic, those projections are in error," the company's attorney wrote.
Norfolk Southern, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is one of the nation's six large Class I railroads. The participation of such railroads would be critical to Great Lakes Basin Transportation's plan.
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GLBT's traffic estimates in the Nov. 10 STB submission are based on the idea that, by its third year of operations, 70% of the freight rail traffic passing through Chicago would use it. The 260-mile Chicago rail bypass would loop west and south of the Windy City.
"Ultimately, the companies that ship freight on the railroads determine how their traffic is routed," GLBT Chief Legal and Administrative Officer Mike Blaszak acknowledged in a Dec. 5 e-mail. "Our train frequency projections were based on the assumption that the new railroad would carry a certain percentage of the rail shipments that currently move through Chicago to other destinations and that the volume of rail traffic would grow with the U.S. economy."
In addition to Norfolk Southern, one other of the country's largest freight lines has issued a public statement regarding Great Lakes Basin. Union Pacific determined in 2014 it was not interested in the proposal.
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"Union Pacific is focused on several major public-private partnerships, including CREATE, which will benefit the region and enhance efficiency for Chicago-area and regional railroad operations," Union Pacific stated earlier this year.
CREATE is a multiyear federal, state and local infrastructure project that would add overpasses and underpasses, upgrade tracks, switches and signal systems, and make other improvements to increase efficiency and safety through Chicago.
But Blaszak said GLBT hopes to convince freight haulers its railroad is the best solution to Chicago congestion.
"We are working to demonstrate to the railroads and shippers how our project will make the rail network more efficient and competitive, to everyone's benefit," he said.
