advertisement

---

Make it 12 communities that now have reached mitigation agreements with CN concerning the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. (EJ&E) integration. Yesterday, the Class I announced a pact with the city of Richton Park, Ill., that addresses the municipality's traffic and emergency response concerns.

Under the agreement, CN will help create and maintain quiet zones, fund safety fencing, and provide emergency response personnel training and emergency communication improvements.

“We believe this [agreement] demonstrates a clear, ongoing commitment by CN to work closely with the cities, towns and villages that will experience increased freight traffic as CN fully integrates EJ&E operations into its network over a three-year period,” said Gordon Trafton, CN’s senior vice president-Southern Region, in a prepared statement. "Our community liaison officer has recently reached out to all 33 affected communities and will continue to schedule face-to-face meetings with them all to ensure timely communication of implementation activities, including quiet zones and training for municipal responders at CN's expense."

The Class I previously reached mitigation agreements with Chicago Heights, Crest Hill, Frankfort, Hoffman Estates, Joliet, Mokena, Mundelein and West Chicago, Ill.; and Dyer, Griffith and Schererville, Ind. CN acquired a major portion of the EJ&E on Jan. 31 and began integrating the railroad into its system shortly afterward.