Canadian National Must Pay $68M for Underpasses

Canadian National Railway Co. must pay $68 million to fund underpasses in Lynwood and Aurora along the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

After Canadian National acquired the EJ&E line for $300 million in 2007, the Surface Transportation Board imposed numerous conditions on the railway, including payment to cover most of the costs of these underpasses to ease traffic backups.

Municipal leaders throughout the suburbs opposed the acquisition, in part because of the environmental impact it would have, and have since sought voluntary mitigation agreements with Canadian National.

According to Crain's Chicago Business, Canadian National appealed the conditions, arguing that the transportation board didn't have legal grounds to raise environmental concerns in a deal between a large railroad and a small railroad.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia upheld the conditions Tuesday, saying there was nothing in the law that intended to limit the board's environmental authority.

According to the court's ruling, Canadian National must pay 67 percent of the cost for a grade separation at Ogden Avenue near Aurora, and 78.5 percent at Lincoln Highway, or U.S. Route 30, in Lynwood. In the ruling, it states that Canadian National argued it should pay 5 percent at most.

“While we are disappointed by today's court decision, we will not appeal it further, and will continue working with Illinois officials to implement the grade separations in accordance with the STB's requirements," CN president and CEO Claude Mongeau said in a news release.

The release also noted that the railway reached 108 separate voluntary mitigation agreements and didn't object to 73 others. It reached an agreement late in 2010 with the Village of New Lenox, requiring Canadian National to .

Not too long after, Canadian National was for not reporting about 1,400 delays it had at crossings.

To see the federal appeals court's full decision, see the attached PDF underneath the photo in this article.