In a July 3 letter to the Surface Transportation Board, CP requested a preliminary injunction that would order CN to maintain the interchange at Spaulding in Bartlett, Ill., until the railroads could settle their dispute.
In a July 12 letter notifying regulators that mediation was unsuccessful, CN asked the board to establish an interim agreement that shifts interchange to the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard.
CN also asked the board to set a schedule for proceedings where the railroads could present evidence that could help regulators determine which railroad will have to pay BRC for interchange-related switching fees.
CN and CP began discussing an interchange move last year. Talks failed, however, and CN aimed to cancel the current interchange agreement on May 11, then move the interchange from Spaulding, not far from CP’s Bensenville Yard, to CN’s Kirk Yard in Gary, Ind.
CP objected, and the board ordered the railways to maintain the Spaulding interchange while the dispute headed to mediation.
CN says interchanging with CP at Spaulding ties up its increasingly busy single-track main line and blocks area grade crossings. Moving the interchange, CN says, would reduce delays to the average of two dozen trains per day that operate over its Chicago-Winnipeg, Manitoba, main.
In a July 12 email to CP, CN proposed shifting the interchange to Clearing and said it would accept the terms CP established in a May 6 letter to the STB: CN will pick up the switching fees for cars it delivers to Clearing while regulators sort out who should ultimately pay the tab.
The railroads exchange about 83 cars per day in Chicago.
Yes, that map is a waste of space in that form
I agree with Joe Kurland, the map is useless as presented. I suppose anyone living in the Chicago area might have a good idea of what they are looking at, but to me it’s just a big space filler.
Would be helpful if TRAINS put the older names for these lines in parentheses, since they won’t blow up the map. Things like ex-Wisconsin Central (Soo Line), CMStP&P, etc. When I first went to Chicago in 1982 neither CP nor CN were there yet; I even briefly visited the now-gone Madison Street Station.
It would be nice if the map were large enough and high enough resolution to be able to read it. A link to a pdf version would be best.
Curtis, it does sound strange when you put it like that. These interchanges go back to the American roads they’ve acquired over the years, however. Namely, the Milwaukee Road (CP) and Illinois Central (CN). So, I wonder where those two predecessor lines interchanged back in the day. Could it be Clearing?
Curtis, it does sound strange that the operational center of Canadian National is Chicago which is nowhere near the frontier and even further from any major Canadian city. Well, I guess USA is good for something, we keep the Canadian economy afloat.
Also, is it not ironic that the 2 Canadian transcons would tussle on interchange in Chicago? So, truth is stranger than fiction, et al.
That’s a creative idea Landon Rowell that’d work for for what I would imagine is the significant majority of the 83 cars/day.
I think the mediated compromise was fine though, both roads serve Clearing daily. CP shouldn’t expect the status quo slanted heavily in their favor to prevail.
A little out of the box (Chicago), but how about interchanging some traffic at Dubuque, IA, or other non-Chicago locations?
Getting rid of that other main line on the IC is coming around huh?