Posted on 06/06/2008 5:43:58 PM PDT by Lorianne
BARRINGTON, Ill. -- Mayor Karen Darch's phone started ringing minutes after one of North America's largest railroads announced plans to more than quadruple the number of freight trains rumbling daily through this upscale Chicago suburb.
The protest has since grown to a roar.
The number of trains would jump from just a few to about 20 a day, with some stretching more than a mile and blocking every through road in this 140-year-old village of 10,000 people.
The mayor said she fears the trains will further snarl roads already prone to backing up, and that visitors to Barrington's boutiques and nature parks will begin to steer clear.
"This is the biggest issue to confront this community in its history," Darch said. "It's going to be a massive problem."
Other communities around the United States face similar disruptions, including Rochester, Minn., where there's fierce opposition to a proposal to direct dozens more coal-hauling trains through the heart of that city of 100,000.
Disputes are likely to become more common as railroads look to improve the flow of freight trains, especially through and around cities like Chicago - a vital but increasingly clogged hub in the nation's rail network.
Canadian National Railway Co., a Montreal-based company that wants to buy the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway line running through Barrington and some 30 other suburbs, says diverting trains to that line will help avoid congestion.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the tracks were there first.
Depends. In some villages, probably yes. In the little town I live in, no; we were here before steam trains were invented.
Just in case anyone is wondering, Barrington is the kind of town where a parent buys a second house next to the high school so Junior doesn’t have to fight for a space to park his Hummer in the school parking lot.
And, typically, in situations of that sort, all manner of inducements were offered to the railroad to make the village a station point.
The railroads were there first and these dumbassed people bought houses near the tracks.Tough!
Hummer? Not so much. Bimmer? Definitely.
Maybe they should build a bridge or two and some pedestrian overpasses. That solution has been around for a while.
I spent some time in Scarsdale, one of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation. The town, and others like it, is bisected by railway tracks, and trains go by at least once an hour. Big deal. People live there because it makes commuting to the city convenient.
I've always liked the sound of freight trains in the distance . . . I can see having a problem with it if it shakes pictures off the walls . . . but that's a "moving to the nuisance" issue.
It's also tough not to feel some schadenfreude at people who pay $750K (on the low side) and millions (on the high side) to move to a nuisance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.