Stop Transporting Hazardous Materials Through Our Neighborhoods

IDOT is conducting a Rail Needs Assessment throughout Illinois. This study comes at the heels of a recent merger between KCS and CN. The 20,000-mile network through Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. will increase rail traffic through our communities and put schools, parks, and other public locations at greater risk.

I adamantly oppose transporting hazardous materials through our neighborhoods. The rail industry hasn’t proven to be a good neighbor – Lac-Mégantic is a case in point. Eight years since losing 47 loved ones to a single derailment, including young children, and citizens traumatized by this catastrophic event must continue doing their own rail safety checks – daily. Residents were promised the corridor would be relocated to circumvent their village; this hasn’t been done to date, nor has the now leveled city center been rebuilt.

The rail industry isn’t required to carry adequate insurance covering damages from spills, releases, and explosions, and a laundry list of needed improvements remain disregarded. In recent rulemaking, the industry actually devalued human life, prioritizing their profits over our safety, and Congress simply leaves greedy corporate executives to regulate themselves.

About 20 trains nearly 1-mile in length roll through my community each day, often parking for long periods of time on a parallel holding track. My entire home vibrates as they pass, which broke a pane of glass at my neighbor's home. I paid thousands of dollars to repair a window well after it pulled away from its foundation when CN dug to lay the second track. My community depends on well water, which is now compromised.

We, as adults, have a moral responsibility to keep our children safe, yet children attending schools within a 1-mile distance from a rail corridor are left helplessly at risk. Nationwide, approximately 5.7 million children go to schools located within the Oil Train Blast Zone (blast-zone.org). With 77,000 kids at schools in this zone, Chicago is one of the top five cities guilty of jeopardizing student safety.

Perhaps the industry hasn’t learned any of the lessons from Quebec’s epic tragedy, but the public has. We remember the lives lost in Lac-Mégantic.

Please tell IDOT to stop allowing corporate executives to prioritize profits over our safety and to stop letting the rail industry transport hazardous materials past our homes, schools, and other public locations – tell IDOT we expect them to Keep Our Kids Safe!