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[CNJRoss]

Cook County (IL) Record, 11/13:
 

 

Canadian Pacific asks court to block Tollway from taking land at Bensenville rail yard for Elgin O'Hare project

 

One of North America’s largest railroad companies has asked a federal judge to detour the Illinois Tollway’s plans to take land at a Bensenville rail yard as part of the highway agency’s plans to extend and improve the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway.

On Nov. 13, Canadian Pacific Railroad filed suit in federal court in Chicago asking a judge to declare the Illinois Tollway lacks the authority to take its land for the new roadway, as federal interstate commerce laws effectively nix the state agency’s eminent domain powers over land owned and used by railroads for shipping freight.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Cook County (IL) Record, 3/30:
 

Court curbs Canadian Pacific's attempt to block Tollway from trying to take rail yard land for Elgin-O'Hare project

 

A federal judge has refused to apply the brakes to the Illinois Tollway’s plans to improve and extend the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway, saying one of the country’s largest railroad operators jumped the green light in asking the court to block the Tollway from even starting up the process of taking land from one of the company’s railyards for the new highway.

 

On March 29, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly dismissed the lawsuit brought by Canadian Pacific Railway Company against the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, which argued the Tollway lacks the legal authority to even attempt to use its eminent domain powers to seize land from the railway’s Bensenville rail yards to pave the way for a new leg of its planned new expressway.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL 6/18:
 

Tollway, Canadian Pacific Railway sparring over location of western bypass

 

Faced with a legal assault from the Canadian Pacific Railroad about the location of its western bypass road around O'Hare International Airport, the Illinois tollway is seeking help to shore up its defenses.

 

The railroad in 2015 sued the tollway in federal court, claiming it was violating laws protecting interstate commerce by trying to condemn a portion of a Canadian Pacific train yard in Bensenville for the bypass.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Crain's Chicago Business, 8/18:
 

Is the O'Hare western access plan going off the rails?

 

A bitter dispute between the Illinois Tollway and Canadian Pacific Railway is going public, and it threatens to derail long-anticipated plans for western road access to O'Hare International Airport and construction of a bypass road around the airfield.

 

In a letter to Illinois' congressional delegation and a subsequent interview, tollway Chairman Bob Schillerstrom charges that, after a recent change in management, CP has walked away from negotiations over using some of its property needed for the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and now refuses to talk at all.

 

"If the Canadian Pacific Railway is successful in killing this project, it will be a waste of the $140 million Congress appropriated and the $1.5 billion the tollway already has spent on this project,  .  .  ."

 

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[CNJRoss]

Chicago Tribune,8/26:

Tollway to railroad: Get on board with O'Hare road or face lawsuit

 

Calling the railroad's refusal to negotiate over a highway project just west of O'Hare International Airport "irresponsible," the Illinois Tollway chair threatened to sue Canadian Pacific Railway.

 

Tollway Chairman Bob Schillerstrom said in an interview on Friday that he does not want to file a lawsuit and would prefer that the two parties talk through their differences.

 

But he said the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is prepared to file a suit before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board if necessary, though a resolution could take years. The board has regulatory oversight of railroads.

 

"We have employed every avenue we can think of to try to talk to them . . ." Schillerstrom said. "We've been rebuffed at every turn."

 

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[CNJRoss]

Chicago Tribune, 11/23:
 

Tollway sues Canadian railroad over western access to O'Hare

 

Frustrated with what it says is a Canadian railway's refusal to negotiate, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has filed a lawsuit before a federal regulatory agency demanding that it be allowed to run highway ramps over train tracks just west of O'Hare International Airport.

 

The toll authority asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday to decide "on an expedited basis" to allow the toll authority to build five ramps over Canadian Pacific Railway tracks, according to the toll authority's petition. The board has regulatory oversight of railroads.

 

"This was the last resort — we had no other option," said Bob Schillerstrom, toll authority chairman. "The Canadian Pacific worked with us for a long period of time and then completely changed their position. They put the entire project in jeopardy by changing their minds."

 

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[CNJRoss]

Crain's Chicago Business 2/24/17:
 

Tollway gets new help in O'Hare access fight

 

 

Illinois' congressional delegation is joining in efforts to get the federal government to side with the Illinois Tollway in a dispute that threatens long-planned western access to O'Hare International Airport.

 

In a letter released today, the delegation urges the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to require the Canadian Pacific Railway to make portions of its property on O'Hare's western edge available for the proposed Elgin-O'Hare Expressway.

 

SNIP

 

The letter warns that delays caused by Canadian Pacific's refusal to negotiate could cost the state $200,000 a month and "jeopardize" $140 million the federal government already has invested in the project.

 

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[CNJRoss]

Crain's Chicago Business  6/16/17:
 

Tollway, Canadian Pacific resume talks on O'Hare western access

 

 

With a nudge from a key federal agency, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Illinois Tollway have quietly resumed negotiations over a dispute that threatens to scuttle construction of a long-planned western access road to O'Hare International Airport.

 

In a joint letter signed by their lawyers, the tollway and railroad notified the U.S. Surface Transportation Board they have agreed to board mediation if needed, but in the meantime they will "to continue to engage in direct settlement discussions first." (You can read the letter at the end of this story.)

 

It's not entirely clear when those talks began, but it was sometime after the tollway in November filed suit against CP, asking the Surface Transportation Board to force the railroad to sell or grant air-rights easements on CP property near O'Hare that the tollway says it needs for the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway.

 

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