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Chicago Metropolis 2020 Says Railroad Plan Could Ease Rail and Highway Congestion and Benefit Regional Economy Chicago Metropolis 2020 recently delivered a “statement of support with conditions” to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the federal regulatory agency with jurisdiction over railroad mergers and sales regarding the proposed acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern West Railway Company (EJ&E) by the Canadian National Railway Corporation (CN). In our statement , Jim LaBelle, Vice President of Chicago Metropolis 2020 states that, “CREATE, the $1.5 billion project intended to make freight movement more efficient, has begun at a slow pace, but Canadian National is proposing to invest its own money on the EJ&E to help achieve the goals of CREATE It could yield substantial transportation and economic benefits for the entire region.”
The Metropolis Freight Plan: Delivering the Goods In a complimentary effort to our work on issues of Land Use and Transportation policy, in December 2004, Chicago Metropolis 2020 unveiled a series of recommendations aimed at preventing costly gridlock of the movement of almost $1 trillion in freight in the Chicago region – a gridlock that would make congestion even worse for commuters and damage the economy. The release of The Metropolis Freight Plan: Delivering the Goods marks the first time in many decades that the Chicago region has had the benefit of an independent and extensive examination of the region’s freight system, and it outlines not just the problems but also the steps that Chicago Metropolis 2020 believes are needed to prevent future freight gridlock and to secure the economic benefits of growing freight traffic. This report is the result of a two-year effort on the part of Chicago Metropolis 2020 to analyze current state of the freight industry in the Chicago region and review our capacity to address anticipated growth in freight movements as we move toward the year 2030, and where necessary make recommendations for policy and other changes necessary to improve our capacity to compete in this area. In addition to the 36-page freight report, we have prepared an exhaustive technical report both of which can be downloaded below. Both the freight report and the technical report are large files. You are strongly encouraged to use a right mouse click and choose the "save file as" feature of your browser to download these files. If you would prefer receiving a hard copy of the report, you may contact us and we will mail one to you at no charge.
Making the Chicago Region More Competitive in the Global Supply Chain Among the topics discussed were global and national trade patterns, technology, transportation costs, supply chain bottlenecks, freight development, and paying for and pricing the system. Throughout the day participants developed ideas, strategies and plans of action that anticipate and respond to the forces of change and ensure that our region prospers as a global freight transportation center. For those interested in learning more about what was discussed at the forum please follow this link to access a document highlighting panelists’ presentations and summarizing the findings and recommendations from the conference.
On February 7, 2006, Jim LaBelle appeared as a guest on WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight news program. This was an on-site interview at the Corwith Railyard where Jim and Eight Forty-Eight host Steve Edwards discussed the CREATE rail program and the importance of freight movements to the regional economy. If you'd like to listen to the article, you may follow this link. (NOTE: This content is not on the Chicago Metropolis 2020 website and requires Real Player to be played. If you have trouble with this link, you may go directly to the Eight Forty-Eight "audio archive" for February 2006. The air date for this piece was February 7, 2006). On December 21, 2004, Jim LaBelle appeared as a guest on WBEZ Radio's Eight Forty-Eight news program hosted by Steve Edwards. This was a panel discussion on freight issues in the metropolitan Chicago region featuring LuAnn Hamilton of the City of Chicago and Paul Nowicki of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. If you would like listen to the audio interview, you may visit the WBEZ website by clicking here (NOTE: This content is not on the Chicago Metropolis 2020 website and requires Real Player to be played. If you have trouble with this link, you may go directly to the Eight Forty-Eight "audio archive" for December 2004. The air date for this piece was December 21, 2004). |