by bufftbone
Latest rumor has CN buying the EJ&E. What has anyone else heard?
Railroad Forums
Latest CN buying rumor - is EJ&E next?
- Discussion relating to the Canadian National, past and present. Also includes discussion of Illinois Central and Grand Trunk Western and other subsidiary roads (including Bessemer & Lake Erie and the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway). Official site: WWW.CN.CA
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by Komachi
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by Otto Vondrak
Don't believe anything until you see a filing with the STB and an announcement from the railroad. These transactions don't take place in secret.
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by lock4244
Would be a good fit, but that could be said about alot of RR's. Can't believe CN would go unapposed on this one. And then there's the runour thing...
But those CP + DM&E rumours turned out to be right on, didn't they?
But those CP + DM&E rumours turned out to be right on, didn't they?
Mike
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by bufftbone
I had to take a train through there last night from Giffith to Matteson and thought that it would be great that if the CN did buy the EJ&E, they could turn the track from Track warrent to CTC. It would be so much easier. Not that copying a track warrent is hard or anything but when you get those few dispatchers that require to to spell back everything, it's a headache.
by pablo
Threads exist in numerous places showing the proposed purchase of the DM&E.
Dave Becker
Dave Becker
~Dave Becker
Moderator: Fairbanks-Morse Forum
Moderator: Fairbanks-Morse Forum
by Ken V
It's so easy to get confused with all these rumours flying around 
.
There was CN + DM&E, CN +DM&E + IC&E, CP + IC&E (alone), but I don't think CP + DM&E + IC&E was ever mentioned on these forums before the announcement earlier this week.
Anyway, this thread is about CN and the Elgin Joliet and Eastern. Don't hold your breath.
.There was CN + DM&E, CN +DM&E + IC&E, CP + IC&E (alone), but I don't think CP + DM&E + IC&E was ever mentioned on these forums before the announcement earlier this week.
Anyway, this thread is about CN and the Elgin Joliet and Eastern. Don't hold your breath.
Ken V. Moderator: Most things Canadian.
Any time could be train time!
Any time could be train time!
by EJ&ESDM809
I don't think it is going to happen. From what I have heard it might happen if they got the DM&E so they could have a direct roue from the PRB to industries on the EJ&E, but since CP got the DM&E, sounds like CN isn't going to be doing anything, plus BNSF and UP wouldn't be very pleased because they both use the line. In fact, those two use it way more then CN does. I think if anyone were to get EJ&E it would be UP.
by J hogger
Sometimes all you have to do is look and you get information. 
This is from Crain's Chicago Business:
Rail deal offers city a remedy
By Bob Tita
Sept. 10, 2007
Canadian National Railway Co. is angling to buy a suburban rail route that would be a major step toward relieving train congestion in Chicago.
The Montreal-based railroad is in talks with U.S. Steel Corp. to buy from the steelmaker about 100 miles of track that arc through an area from Waukegan to Northwest Indiana, a source familiar with the negotiations says.
The acquisition would allow Canadian National to shift traffic off congested routes where freight trains creep through the city and close-in suburbs at low speeds, often idling for hours and blocking intersections. Local officials and rail executives have long sought to reduce or eliminate the use of such routes, which snarl traffic throughout the region and cause railroads costly delays. A solution to the problem is seen as critical to maintaining Chicago's status as the nation's rail hub.
An industry source pegs the sale value of U.S. Steel's Elgin, Joliet & Eastern tracks as high as $1 billion. A deal would give CN the ability to move additional freight volume — particularly from the West Coast — at a faster rate. CN also would collect fees from other railroads that use the key bypass route.
The deal would defuse a long-simmering dispute with Chicago officials and South Loop residents over use of lakefront tracks and remove the need to build a costly alternative to the route — one that would be footed largely by taxpayers as part of the Create program, a $1.5-billion rail congestion relief strategy pushed by the railroads, city and state.
"It creates a pathway to solving the problem," says Michael Blaszak, a Chicago attorney specializing in rail issues and a former railroad corporate counsel. "This would allow (CN) to run trains around Chicago without going through the congested downtown area."
Spokesmen for CN and Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel decline to comment.
With the additional tracks in the suburbs, industry observers predict CN would give up the contentious 2.5-mile route through the South Loop to Chinatown known as the St. Charles Air Line, plus about 9 miles of track that parallel Metra's Electric Line along the lakefront.
"I hope it's moving. We've fought for many, many years for the (route's) relocation," says Bonnie Sanchez-Carlson, president of the Near South Planning Board, which represents property owners in development-related issues.
CREATE ALTERNATIVE
Almost a decade ago, the city urged federal officials to block Canadian National's purchase of Illinois Central Railroad Corp. because of CN's refusal to abandon the line. The railroad argued that it couldn't redirect its trains without an alternate route. CN's acquisition of Illinois Central was approved, and in 2003, the city agreed to buy the line and lakefront right of way once a suitable replacement route became available.
Create, or the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, proposed building a $100-million alternative route for CN along Western Avenue. The railroad pledged about $17 million for the project. But CEO E. Hunter Harrison lost interest in it after the 2005 federal transportation funding bill provided just $100 million for the entire $1.5-billion Create work list. The shortage of money pushed back construction of the new CN route by a decade or more, planners say.
"The Create program is moving so slowly that railroads are looking for their own solutions," says Jim LaBelle, deputy director of business civic group Metropolis 2020
Like I said before, they sound serious this time.
This is from Crain's Chicago Business:Rail deal offers city a remedy
By Bob Tita
Sept. 10, 2007
Canadian National Railway Co. is angling to buy a suburban rail route that would be a major step toward relieving train congestion in Chicago.
The Montreal-based railroad is in talks with U.S. Steel Corp. to buy from the steelmaker about 100 miles of track that arc through an area from Waukegan to Northwest Indiana, a source familiar with the negotiations says.
The acquisition would allow Canadian National to shift traffic off congested routes where freight trains creep through the city and close-in suburbs at low speeds, often idling for hours and blocking intersections. Local officials and rail executives have long sought to reduce or eliminate the use of such routes, which snarl traffic throughout the region and cause railroads costly delays. A solution to the problem is seen as critical to maintaining Chicago's status as the nation's rail hub.
An industry source pegs the sale value of U.S. Steel's Elgin, Joliet & Eastern tracks as high as $1 billion. A deal would give CN the ability to move additional freight volume — particularly from the West Coast — at a faster rate. CN also would collect fees from other railroads that use the key bypass route.
The deal would defuse a long-simmering dispute with Chicago officials and South Loop residents over use of lakefront tracks and remove the need to build a costly alternative to the route — one that would be footed largely by taxpayers as part of the Create program, a $1.5-billion rail congestion relief strategy pushed by the railroads, city and state.
"It creates a pathway to solving the problem," says Michael Blaszak, a Chicago attorney specializing in rail issues and a former railroad corporate counsel. "This would allow (CN) to run trains around Chicago without going through the congested downtown area."
Spokesmen for CN and Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel decline to comment.
With the additional tracks in the suburbs, industry observers predict CN would give up the contentious 2.5-mile route through the South Loop to Chinatown known as the St. Charles Air Line, plus about 9 miles of track that parallel Metra's Electric Line along the lakefront.
"I hope it's moving. We've fought for many, many years for the (route's) relocation," says Bonnie Sanchez-Carlson, president of the Near South Planning Board, which represents property owners in development-related issues.
CREATE ALTERNATIVE
Almost a decade ago, the city urged federal officials to block Canadian National's purchase of Illinois Central Railroad Corp. because of CN's refusal to abandon the line. The railroad argued that it couldn't redirect its trains without an alternate route. CN's acquisition of Illinois Central was approved, and in 2003, the city agreed to buy the line and lakefront right of way once a suitable replacement route became available.
Create, or the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, proposed building a $100-million alternative route for CN along Western Avenue. The railroad pledged about $17 million for the project. But CEO E. Hunter Harrison lost interest in it after the 2005 federal transportation funding bill provided just $100 million for the entire $1.5-billion Create work list. The shortage of money pushed back construction of the new CN route by a decade or more, planners say.
"The Create program is moving so slowly that railroads are looking for their own solutions," says Jim LaBelle, deputy director of business civic group Metropolis 2020
Like I said before, they sound serious this time.