Sandberg: Stop railroading the council
Peoria City Councilman Gary Sandberg lived up to his reputation as a gadfly by being the only member of the council to vote against an agreement to let the Illinois Department of Transportation hire Central Railgroup Construction Services to adjust an existing railroad crossing at Allen Road. It’s all part of IDOTs improvement of Allen road from Park Road to North of Pioneer Parkway.
IDOT is paying the full cost of the project, which would widen the road to five lanes. It’s already down to two lanes, according to 5th District Council Member Patrick Nichting.
So what’s Councilman Sandberg’s beef? It’s the same company the city hired to maintain rail service on the Kellar Branch after the city bought the line and fired Pioneer Railcorp. Sandberg complained that Central Illinois Railroad — hired by the city to run the Kellar Branch and maintain it — has done a very poor job, from failure to adequately get shipments to Carver Lumber, to failure to provide weekly reports on the track, for having a frunaway train that endangered a Peoria neighborhood. And Central Illinois Railroad owns Central Railgroup Construction Services.
“I can see no reason to reward these people with additional work, even if other people are paying for it,” Sandberg said. Actually, since the state is paying for it, so are the citizens of Peoria.
Sandberg also objected to being told that the approval must be given immediately, or the project could not be finished before winter sets in. He compared it to having a gun places against the council members head and being told to vote. The city’s professional staff is fully capable, if it wanted to, of getting these sorts of measures before the council for a vote in a timelier manner, he added.
Peoria City Manager Randy Oilver defended Central Illinois Railroad by saying that the company made most deliveries to Carver on time. It’s a statement that David P. Jordan debunks on his blog.
The shipment records show that on 27 of the 29 deliveries, CIRY placed the car at Carver’s facility no more than 2 hours after receiving the car from the Union Pacific at Pioneer Junction.
Those who are ignorant of rail operations might take this as fact, but it is not. An accurate statement would read this way:
The shipment records show that on 27 of the 29 deliveries, CIRY placed the car at Carver’s facility no more than 2 hours after being notified by the Union Pacific of their delivery at Pioneer Junction.
Now note the supposed delivery times shown on the UP interchange report. During the month of August, six carloads were received in interchange from Union Pacific. CIRY’s interchange/”shortline event summary” shows UP making a delivery on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the early afternoon. Yet Carver Lumber’s filing with the STB from July 21 states that UP elects to provide service to the CIRY interchange on Mondays and Wednesdays. So is there a contradiction here?
The fact is, Union Pacific’s “Peoria Wayfreight” works five days a week, Sunday thru Thursday beginning at 5:00pm. A trip up to Pioneer Jct. is usually the first job for the wayfreight, which does this on Mondays and Wednesdays. Basically, UP delivers to CIRY in the early evening, but CIRY’s crew does not work the Pioneer Jct. to Pioneer Park line until late morning or early afternoon the following day (if there are any cars). The above corrected statement assumes that CIRY receives notice from the UP the following morning that these cars have been delivered. In reality, UP physically interchanges these cars to CIRY the prior evening and then some 18-20 hours later, CIRY delivers to Carver Lumber.
It’s sort of like paying extra for “Express Mail” from the post office, and finding out the only thing they guarantee is that it might get there pretty muchg the same time as a regular letter, if at all.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Thanks, Gary – for paying attention and for being the “gadfly.”
Yes, Thanks Gary. Keep it up! Mayor Sanburg? sounds good to me.
OOPS MAYOR SANDBURG sorry
Have another Beamish Gary, cheers!