BENTON – Terminal Railroad claims flood regulators seek to condemn 10 acres of its riverfront property in Brooklyn without just cause or due process.
The railroad filed suit in U.S. district court on Nov. 19, to keep Metro East Sanitary and Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention districts from taking the property.
The districts propose to install a filter blanket of sand and gravel there, and the railroad proposes a cutoff wall as a feasible alternative.
Railroad counsel Thomas Wayde of Clayton, Mo. wrote that cutoff walls have been utilized north and south of the property.
“Cutoff walls generally allow property owners to continue using their land as they otherwise would,” Wayde wrote.
He also wrote that the districts offered $367,500 for the 10 acres and $14,500 for a temporary construction easement on four acres.
He wrote that the offer valued the parcel far below market value.
“That land is needed for the construction of rail lines through the parcel in order to develop expanded rail and multimodal facilities on the parcel,” he wrote.
He wrote that the U.S. Surface Transportation Board has exclusive authority over rail carriers and over the operation and abandonment of facilities.
“Condemnation of railroad property is recognized as an extreme form of state regulation over interstate railroad transportation,” he wrote.
He wrote that Terminal Railroad was formed in 1889, and its predecessors date back to 1797.
He wrote that it owns Merchants and MacArthur bridges and key routes in St. Louis, St. Clair County, and Madison County.
He wrote that its switching yard in Madison has 77 tracks that allow 30,000 cars to pass through on a monthly basis.
He wrote that 17 locomotives move cars around the yard, deliver cars to local industries, and prepare trains for departure.
The clerk assigned Magistrate Judge Reona Daly, who will preside unless a party declines consent to magistrate jurisdiction.
In that event the clerk would assign a district judge.