CN Ordered to Appear Before Surface Transportation Board to Explain Grade Crossing Delay Data Discrepancy

CN Undercounts 10-Minute Grade Crossing Delays on EJ&E by 1,443 Instances

CHICAGO, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On April 21, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) released an April 20 Decision requiring officials from Canadian National Railway (CN) to appear before the Board on April 28, 2010 to explain a gross discrepancy in the number of reported incidents of blocked grade crossings on the EJ&E.  In its mandated monthly operations report to the STB for the months of November and December 2009, CN had reported a total of only 14 instances when grade crossings were blocked for 10 minutes or more.  In fact, an audit of CN's own technology showed that in that two-month timeframe, grade crossings were blocked in 1,457 instances at 85 different crossings along the EJ&E.

The discovery of the discrepancy was due to TRAC's frequent requests throughout 2009 to the STB to increase its audit oversight of CN's mandatory reports.  On November 17, 2009 the Board finally agreed to TRAC's requests:  "...the Board has decided to ask our independent third-party contractor... to independently verify and file a timely report... on CN's representations made in its latest quarterly environmental report and monthly operations report (and in CN's reply to TRAC's October 14, 2009 letter.)"  When the audit was undertaken, the Board discovered that there is technology at many crossings on the EJ&E that automatically generates reports indicating when crossing gates are down.  CN not only failed to provide to the Board the data that this technology generated, but also failed to tell the Board that this equipment actually existed on the EJ&E.

In responding to this latest Decision by the Board, Tom Weisner, Mayor of Aurora & TRAC Co-Chair says, "Finally, CN's lack of candor has caught up with it!  TRAC has been monitoring CN's monthly operations reports since the first one was issued and letting the STB know that what CN was saying about grade crossing blockages was factually inaccurate.  We have residents of the region filing complaints on the TRAC website, so we always knew that the crossings were blocked with a great deal of frequency.  It is encouraging to have the STB acknowledging the accuracy of what we have been saying all along.  This isn't a small error in math – when CN's count is off by 1,443 it looks a lot like a willful effort to deceive the Board, especially when CN kept secret its own tracking technology."

In addition to the Board's requirement that CN appear before it on April 28 to explain the reporting discrepancy, the Board is also requiring that CN resubmit all previous reports to include the technology-generated data; and provide all of the data in its possession since CN acquired the EJ&E.

In discussing how this development could impact TRAC's legal appeal of the STB Decision approving the transaction, Karen Darch Village President of Barrington and TRAC Co-Chair states, "When STB Chairman Elliott visited the region last December, he sat across the table and told us that if some of the assumptions made in the environmental review of the transaction proved to be factually inaccurate, it could be grounds for re-opening the Decision.  We now have data showing that while only 10% of the additional planned freight trains were running on the EJ&E, we had lengthy periods of blocked crossings nearly 1,500 times! I can assure you, we are eager to hear what CN has to say and what the STB plans to do now that it has this information."

To view a copy of the April 20 STB Decision and TRAC's ongoing communications with the Board, visit  www.fightrailcongestion.com.

About TRAC:  TRAC (The Regional Answer to Canadian National) is a coalition of suburban leaders that have joined forces to ensure the quality of life of more than one million residents in numerous Chicagoland communities is not adversely impacted by the CN/EJ&E issue. TRAC includes municipal and county leaders from Lake, Cook, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will Counties. Barrington Communities Against CN Rail Congestion (BCACRC) represents the interests of Barrington area communities and is an active member of TRAC.

SOURCE TRAC (The Regional Answer to Canadian National)