Last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and local alderman Matt O’Shea (19th Ward) filed a legal action against CSX Transportation, Inc. The action has been filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB), a body that is responsible for regulating railroads throughout the entire country.
According to a press release from the office of O’Shea, these local officials are “asking the federal government to impose sanctions against the railroad for repeatedly blocking streets with stopped trains or because of equipment malfunctions and creating unsafe traffic conditions in our community.”
Their action is being filed in the hope that CSX will receive fines and an audit of their operations. From O’Shea’s press release: “We also hope it will force the railroad to adhere to the legally enforceable conditions imposed by the STB when is authorized CSX’s use of the line. If those provisions were honored, the impact of the railroad on the surrounding community would be significantly lessened.”
When trains do not meet the standards put forward, they are to cut down on trains. “For example, the STB requires CSX to cut a train in the event an intersection is blocked for ten minutes or longer. Even though local intersections are often blocked for excessive periods of time, CSX has only cut one train during the past three years. In some cases, these blockages have delayed emergency vehicles traveling to Advocate Christ (Trauma Center) or Little Company of Mary Hospitals,” O’Shea’s press release says.
According to press release, this action is a group effort of several local politicians including: Emanuel, O’Shea, Ever Green Park Mayor James Sexton, State Senator Bill Cunningham, State Representative Kelly Burke and State Representative Fran Hurley.
Brian Laughran
Editor-in-Chief