Intermodal Advisory Task Force meeting

To:	PeoriaandEastern@yahoogroups.com
From:	"wholelephant" Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Date:	Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:36:06 -0000
Subject:	[PeoriaandEastern] IATF meeting

The Intermodal Advisory Task Force of the Chicago Area Transportation
Study had a meeting Sept. 13 in its new offices in the Sears Tower. I
got in just a bit late because of a hassle over photo ID but heard
most of a BNSF presentation on the CREATE program. After hearing the
usual complaints about freight being ignored and about tapping into
various funds, I asked about tapping into downstate routes to keep
through traffic out of Chicago. The answer went beyond the usual
business-as- usual-we' ve-always- done-it-this- way to a statement that
the railroads already looked into it and did not think there would be
enough traffic. I asked for something in black and white but was told
nothing would be sent. They made much mention of lobbying Sens.
Durbin and Obama and Rep. Lipinski but two can play that game. Maybe
Rep LaHood would like to chime in. They ought to be grateful if
someone else is interested in freight. I also mentioned this group
and its erudite discussion and that you do not have to say you are a
CREATE spy. They concluded with observations that freight traffic was
expanding faster than their predictions. They are trying to get
public money and of course we all have some say in that, don't we?

There was another report on the new, booming markets for specialized,
high-value agricultural products for which bulk transportation is not
appropriate, and, of every four containers returning to the Orient,
only one is loaded. It seems a lot of this has just started going
through the new intermodal terminals near Rochelle and Joliet. It
also seems that ethanol production is taking off and one by-product
is a high-quality cattle feed. I asked if all this stuff had to be
trucked north, that maybe such terminals ought to be located in the
corn and beans country. We can find places for one or two, can't we?