PROPOSED CN/IC ACQUISITION

FINANCE DOCKET NO. 33556

ERRATA TO DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

Upon publishing the Draft EA, SEA notified the following 13 communities with environmental justice populations that could experience disproportionately high and adverse environmental impacts as a result of the proposed CN/IC Acquisition.

Appendix T also contains copies of correspondence SEA sent to received from appropriate public agencies regarding the proposed CN/IC Acquisition.

Complete instructions on how to submit comments to SEA regarding the proposed CN/IC Acquisition are contained in Chapter 1, "Introduction and Background," Section 1.5 1.4, "How to Submit Environmental Comments."

Within the U.S., CN's rail system operates in eight states, and IC's rail system operates in nine ten states.

The current IC rail network consists of approximately 3,370 route miles of track in nine ten states running north-south between Chicago, Illinois and the Gulf of Mexico and east-west from Chicago toward Nebraska and Minnesota.

Amtrak operates on approximately 1,190 1,160 miles of CN/IC rail lines in eight states--Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, and Tennessee.

As of October 27, 1998, the Board had received three two IR Applications relating to the proposed CN/IC Acquisition, and granted BNSF a 48-hour extension for filing its IR Application pending settlement negotiations with the Applicants. Because BNSF entered into a Settlement Agreement with the Applicants, they did not submit an IR Application.¹¹

¹¹ Initially, two three other railroads (CSX, BNSF, and Norfolk Southern) filed summary descriptions. On October 27, 1998, NS instead filed a request for conditions, which is described in Table 3-6, "Summary of Requests for Conditions." NS has subsequently withdrawn this filing. CSX withdrew its IR Application in light of a settlement agreement with CN. However, CSX, BNSF, and NS did not submit IR Applications in light of Settlement Agreements reached with the Applicants. The forms of the trackage rights agreements are currently unknown, but SEA will analyze them in the Final EA if they meet any Board thresholds for environmental review.

All three Both IR Applicants filed Verified Statements, and SEA used these Verified Statements to analyze the potential environmental effects of the IR Applications. The three Both Verified Statements are included in Appendix R, "List of Inconsistent and Responsive Applications: Verified Statements."

Pursuant to the Revised Procedural Schedule published served in the Board's Decision No. 11, responses to the IR Applications and CRCs are not due from the Applicants until December 11, 1998.

(For more information on cumulative effects, please refer to Section 6.1 Chapter 6, "Environmental Consequences--Cumulative Effects.")

(For more information on cumulative effects, please refer to Section 6.1 Chapter 6, "Environmental Consequences--Cumulative Effects.")

The total number of Key Routes after the proposed CN/IC Acquisition would be 87 78.

SEA recommends that the Applicants comply system-wide with current AAR "key train" guidelines and any subsequent revisions. In addition, SEA recommends the following mitigation measures for the four new Key Routes and the 10 Major Key Routes.

Delete the first conclusion as follows, and renumber subsequent conclusions:

1. Comply with the current AAR "key train" guidelines and any subsequent revisions on all Key Routes and Major Key Routes.

In most cases, the release interval per mile increases decreases as a result of the CN/IC Acquisition. In very few cases, the release interval per mile decreases increases.

Attachment C-8 C-9, "Collision Estimates for Rail Line Segments with Passenger Trains and an Increase of at Least One Freight Train per Day," presents the results of these analyses.

Freight Trains Total Trains Change in Freight Train Traffic

27.3 23.3 31.3 27.3 5.9 1.9

Of the 156 counties affected by the proposed CN/IC Acquisition, 141 139 are currently in attainment or maintenance status, and the other 15 17 are in various classifications of nonattainment status for one or more of the criteria pollutants. Of these 15 17 counties, three are in areas where proposed CN/IC activities would meet or exceed Board thresholds for air quality analysis (two in Illinois and one in Michigan).

Since surface-level ozone formation is primarily caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial sources, the Applicants assumed that most of the NO_x emissions in Champaign County are from sources in Champaign-Urbana; therefore, cumulative effects would most likely occur where the Applicants' operations coincide with these urban areas of the county.

(For more details regarding these community characteristics, see Attachment G-1 G-2, "Noise Assessment Summaries" of Appendix G, "Noise Analysis Methods and Results.")

Potential Significant Environmental Impacts of the CN/IC Acquisition in Environmental Justice Communities.

Turks Motor Express, 3333 South Cicero Avenue, appears is listed as a leaking underground storage tank (LUST) site with contamination from diesel fuel and waste oils.

Air quality in three two Illinois counties (Will, Cook and Champaign counties).

The CN/IC Applicants estimate that train traffic on the four segments, which run between Homewood, a suburb of Chicago, and Gilman, Illinois, would increase by five to seven trains per day over a base of 12 to 19 trains per day.

• Matoon.
• Onarga.
• Otto.

Applicants shall provide Operation Respond software and any necessary training at the local emergency response center serving minority or low-income populations adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of Applicants' rail line segment(s) in the communities listed in Condition No. 8 7.

paragraph

...the emergency response organizations for each of the communities listed in Condition No. 8 7.

For all proposed CN/IC Acquisition-related constructions, Applicants shall employ the Best Management Practices presented in Exhibit Attachment 8-A, "Best Management Practices for Construction Activities."

SEA tallied the number of loaded cars derailed in accidents meeting these criteria for each year between 1995 and 1997. Then, SEA divided the annual total number of loaded cars derailed of accidents for each railroad by the number of switching events.

A_pass-coll = The pre- or post-Acquisition annual passenger train-freight train collisions on a rail line segment.

Cr_pc = The national passenger train-freight train collision rate per passenger train-mile (0.039 collisions per million commuter and inter-city passenger train miles for pre-Acquisition operating conditions).

SEA used the above formula for both pre- and post-Acquisition operating conditions.

For post-Acquisition operating conditions, SEA calculated collision accident rate as follows⁷:

Delete the following formula:

• The average distance from nearest passenger rail to nearest freight rail is 23 feet on the mainline and 9 feet at train stations. The distance from the nearest freight rail to the edge of the platform at passenger stations is 17 feet.

Probability of an accident occurring encroaching onto passenger service property (0.44 for mainlines; 0.68 near railroad station; 0.56 for platforms within train station).

1. Under the column labeled " Segment Description," change the data for the first rail line segment entry so that it reads: Between Chicago Yards Harvey, IL and Chicago Yards Homewood, IL.

2. For each segment description listed below, replace the data in the last column "Change in Freight" as follows:

Between And Change in Freight

Homewood, IL Matteson (EJE) 7.2 5.1

Otto, IL Gilman, IL 5.7 7.2

Edgewood, IL Centralia, IL 5.4 3.7

Centralia, IL Renlakmine, IL 5.1 3.7

Fulton, KY Dyersburg, TN 3.7 5.4

Dyersburg, TN Woodstock, TN 3.7 5.4

F-14,

Table 2

Yard Name Percent Increase in Total Yard Activity

Hawthorne, IL 62 58

Port Huron, MI 189 200

Edison, MI 31 38

SEA performed these statistical tests using system-wide data from Census block group areas of potential effect for potential noise and hazardous materials transport impacts.

to

L-9

SEA determined whether mitigation measures identified for other human health or environmental issues, such as those for noise hazardous materials transport, are sufficient to eliminate or mitigate potential disproportionately high and adverse impacts on minority and low-income populations. Chapter 4, Environmental Consequences--Operational Changes," discusses these measures. Where SEA determined that measures identified for other issues hazardous materials transport would not be sufficient to eliminate or mitigate potential disproportionately high and adverse impacts on minority and low-income populations, SEA evaluated additional mitigation. SEA also considered the appropriateness of modifying mitigation measures identified for other hazardous materials transport issues to meet the specific needs of a disproportionately affected minority and low-income population.

In its Decision No. 6, the Board required that PORs intending to file IR Applications submit descriptions of those Applications by August 31, 1998, prior to the September 21, 1998, IR Application due date. Six entities filed IR Application descriptions. Three entities indicated an intention to request some form of trackage rights over one or more rail line segments.

Five railroads filed verified statements.¹

¹One entity withdrew its intent to file an IR Application prior to the September 21, 1998 deadline.

Delete the third sentence and modify the fourth sentence as follows:

Verified Statements supporting these two IR Applications follow. Two Three entities subsequently decided not to file IR Applications.

R-16

Dates of contact Major Topic

10/20/98 Environmental justice

10/23/98 Noise, environmental justice, hazardous materials transport, passenger rail safety

Add the following meetings with EPA - Headquarters:

Dates of Contact Major Topic

9/10/98, 10/1/98 Air quality, noise, environmental justice