Infrastructures ferroviaires en Amérique du Nord

Le projet d'acquisition du EJ&E par le CN vu dans une plus large perspective de développement des infrastructures ferroviaires en Amérique du Nord.

By all accounts, America will need more rail tracks in the coming years to handle freight for a growing population's needs, but laying down any new rails is a sure way for companies to stir up fierce local opposition. [...]

The growing furor over CN's plans to use this sleepy 198-mile loop around Chicago to circumvent its chronically clogged rail network is being watched carefully by other railroads to see how regulators handle the issue.

"The rail industry is keeping a pretty close eye on CN's bid for the EJ&E and the opposition to it," said Tom Mentzer, a logistics expert at the University of Tennessee. "This is one of a few test cases out there at the moment."

Analysts say the core issue for the rails is whether to pursue infrastructure projects without government support.

"The EJ&E case is symptomatic of the two faces that government shows on railroad issues," said Anthony Hatch, an independent railroad analyst. "On the one hand, politicians support trains as safer, more environmentally friendly and a good way to get freight off congested highways."

"But at the same time they pander to local political interests and campaign to have vital rail projects anywhere else but here," he added.