Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Whoa Nelly! When CN bought the E.J. & Eastern railway in December 2008, U.S. regulators outlined a 5-year monitoring period ... then extended it a year to Jan. 2015. When will the B.C. government smarten up?
.
Citizen Journalist E.M. has some questions about this interesting CN issue taking place in the U.S. of A. She says: At least the Americans know how to monitor Mergers and Violations, with a 5 year oversight monitoring. The US Surface Transportation Board (STB) is comparable to Transport Canada.
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Canadian National fined $250,000
Regulators say railway underreported Chicago-area crossing delays
December 21, 2010|By Duaa Eldeib, Tribune reporter
Federal regulators reached an unprecedented decision Tuesday to fine Canadian National Railway a quarter of a million dollars, just two years after they approved the railroad's plan to redirect freight traffic through dozens of Chicago suburbs.
The Surface Transportation Board levied the penalty against Canadian National for "knowingly violating" the board's orders to report delays at railroad crossings between Mundelein and northwest Indiana.
CN had initially stated there were only 14 instances in which trains blocked crossings for 10 minutes or longer last November and December. An independent audit revealed such delays occurred 1,457 times, more than 100 times greater than CN reported.
snip
"We're disappointed with the fine," CN spokesman Patrick Waldron said. "In no time did CN mislead or attempt to mislead STB officials or local leaders or the general public through our reporting."
Despite an outcry from residents, CN purchased the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern line for $300 million in December 2008. After the acquisition, regulators outlined a five-year monitoring period. The decision Tuesday extended that period by a year — until January 2015.
Organizers with The Regional Answer to Canadian National, or TRAC — a band of suburbs that opposed the purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern line and complained about CN's reporting — saw the STB's judgment as an affirmation of their efforts.
"We're pleased that the STB has taken seriously the importance of monitoring this situation. … (CN) needs to be vigilant in not just preventing crossing blockage but reporting what's going on, which hopefully will result in better outcomes," said Karen Darch, Barrington's village president and TRAC co-chairwoman.
CN has reached voluntary mitigation agreements with 26 of the 33 communities along the railway.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked the Illinois Commerce Commission for increased transparency by requesting copies of those agreements be made public in order to hold CN accountable.
deldeib@tribune.com
(sorry no URL.)
STB has also extended its regulatory oversight of the CN-EJ&E merger for an additional year, to Jan. 23, 2015, and said it will conduct another audit in 2011. This decision can also be viewed on the STB’s website. An STB official stated that the extra year of review by regulators “will likely cost CN hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional staff, legal and consultant fees.”
Further, the STB has established a website for monitoring CN Rail’s acquisition of the EJ&E railway.
However, in all this, we feel that one thing is certain; that all the attention from the media, elected officials, and from the public that CN Rail has drawn to itself from its underreporting of blocked crossings in the Chicago area is just one more thing that we bet this railway just wasn’t counting on.
Click HERE for source.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-21/news/ct-met-cn-fines-20101221_1_cn-spokesman-patrick-waldron-cn-officials-report-delays
Citizen Journalist E.M. has some questions about this interesting CN issue taking place in the U.S. of A. She says: At least the Americans know how to monitor Mergers and Violations, with a 5 year oversight monitoring. The US Surface Transportation Board (STB) is comparable to Transport Canada.
--
Canadian National fined $250,000
Regulators say railway underreported Chicago-area crossing delays
December 21, 2010|By Duaa Eldeib, Tribune reporter
Federal regulators reached an unprecedented decision Tuesday to fine Canadian National Railway a quarter of a million dollars, just two years after they approved the railroad's plan to redirect freight traffic through dozens of Chicago suburbs.
The Surface Transportation Board levied the penalty against Canadian National for "knowingly violating" the board's orders to report delays at railroad crossings between Mundelein and northwest Indiana.
CN had initially stated there were only 14 instances in which trains blocked crossings for 10 minutes or longer last November and December. An independent audit revealed such delays occurred 1,457 times, more than 100 times greater than CN reported.
snip
"We're disappointed with the fine," CN spokesman Patrick Waldron said. "In no time did CN mislead or attempt to mislead STB officials or local leaders or the general public through our reporting."
Despite an outcry from residents, CN purchased the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern line for $300 million in December 2008. After the acquisition, regulators outlined a five-year monitoring period. The decision Tuesday extended that period by a year — until January 2015.
Organizers with The Regional Answer to Canadian National, or TRAC — a band of suburbs that opposed the purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern line and complained about CN's reporting — saw the STB's judgment as an affirmation of their efforts.
"We're pleased that the STB has taken seriously the importance of monitoring this situation. … (CN) needs to be vigilant in not just preventing crossing blockage but reporting what's going on, which hopefully will result in better outcomes," said Karen Darch, Barrington's village president and TRAC co-chairwoman.
CN has reached voluntary mitigation agreements with 26 of the 33 communities along the railway.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked the Illinois Commerce Commission for increased transparency by requesting copies of those agreements be made public in order to hold CN accountable.
deldeib@tribune.com
(sorry no URL.)
STB has also extended its regulatory oversight of the CN-EJ&E merger for an additional year, to Jan. 23, 2015, and said it will conduct another audit in 2011. This decision can also be viewed on the STB’s website. An STB official stated that the extra year of review by regulators “will likely cost CN hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional staff, legal and consultant fees.”
Further, the STB has established a website for monitoring CN Rail’s acquisition of the EJ&E railway.
However, in all this, we feel that one thing is certain; that all the attention from the media, elected officials, and from the public that CN Rail has drawn to itself from its underreporting of blocked crossings in the Chicago area is just one more thing that we bet this railway just wasn’t counting on.
Click HERE for source.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-21/news/ct-met-cn-fines-20101221_1_cn-spokesman-patrick-waldron-cn-officials-report-delays
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Comments:
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Lost my last post, will try and redo it later.
But here is the link I meant to share about the STB
Surface Transportation Board oversight and Monitoring of the Canadian National Railway Co Aquisition of the Elgin, Joiliet and Eastern Railway Company.
http://www.stbfinancedocket35087.com/html/comments.html
Also more on the 15 month Merger of CN and BNSF back in 2000, shortly before the Two of them were bidding on BC Rail!!!
sneak peak
Tellier vows to keep pushing CN-BN merger
Article Abstract:2000
The proposed merger between Montreal, Que.-based Canadian National Railway Co. and Fort Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. has been delayed by a U.S. government-imposed moratorium on rail mergers. CN, which is led by chairman Paul Tellier, is attempting to have the moratorium lifted in US courts.
Author: McCarthy, Shawn
Publisher: Bell Globemedia Interactive
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/News-opinion-and-commentary/Four-railways-fire-first-shot-to-derail-CN-BNSF-merger-Tellier-vows-to-keep-pushing-CN-BN-merger.html#ixzz1I5znOR8F
Public Comments
The Board appreciates and desires the public to be actively involved in the oversight and monitoring process. The comments received from the public and agencies are shown below.
NOTE: When an individual chooses to submit a Formal Filing, a Recordation, an Environmental Comment, or some Other Submissions, his or her personal contact information is considered public information and is shared within and outside of the Board without additional authorization.
Comments Received MUST READ
Post a Comment
But here is the link I meant to share about the STB
Surface Transportation Board oversight and Monitoring of the Canadian National Railway Co Aquisition of the Elgin, Joiliet and Eastern Railway Company.
http://www.stbfinancedocket35087.com/html/comments.html
Also more on the 15 month Merger of CN and BNSF back in 2000, shortly before the Two of them were bidding on BC Rail!!!
sneak peak
Tellier vows to keep pushing CN-BN merger
Article Abstract:2000
The proposed merger between Montreal, Que.-based Canadian National Railway Co. and Fort Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. has been delayed by a U.S. government-imposed moratorium on rail mergers. CN, which is led by chairman Paul Tellier, is attempting to have the moratorium lifted in US courts.
Author: McCarthy, Shawn
Publisher: Bell Globemedia Interactive
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/News-opinion-and-commentary/Four-railways-fire-first-shot-to-derail-CN-BNSF-merger-Tellier-vows-to-keep-pushing-CN-BN-merger.html#ixzz1I5znOR8F
Public Comments
The Board appreciates and desires the public to be actively involved in the oversight and monitoring process. The comments received from the public and agencies are shown below.
NOTE: When an individual chooses to submit a Formal Filing, a Recordation, an Environmental Comment, or some Other Submissions, his or her personal contact information is considered public information and is shared within and outside of the Board without additional authorization.
Comments Received MUST READ
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