Forest Park, River Forest and Oak Park are bisected by freight and commuter railroads. Make a list of untouchable entities and we’ll put our nation’s railroads high up there. From the early land grants in the 1850s, which created the paths of America’s rail networks, a continuously consolidating rail industry has had stunning independence on how those lines are maintained and regulated.
In multiple ribbons of track, the CTA and Metra rail lines are a notable benefit to each town as they connect our citizens with both the Loop and the western suburbs.
Freight trains? Not so much of a blessing.
In the past few weeks both our Forest Park Review and Wednesday Journal have carried reporting on citizen upset over freight trains idling for hours on the Union Pacific line south of Lake Street. Noisy and polluting, these trains make life miserable for those in neighboring condos.
We have both residents and electeds complaining. But the impervious UP just doesn’t care. History would tell us they have no reason to care as there is no effective way to impact their arrogant behavior.
We’d love to be proven wrong.