Big Cost Overruns On Western Springs Railroad Project

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs will end up paying about a third more for its portion of a railroad project than what was originally estimated, officials said last week.

In 2020, BNSF estimated the West Underpass project near Clausen Avenue would cost the village $2.1 million. It is now expected to total $2.8 million.

The village got the notice of the big increase in costs in December. Before that, the village said it received normal monthly invoices for the project.

"It's obviously a large sum of money, and we were all very surprised to see it come in," Village Manager Ellen Baer said at last week's Village Board meeting.

Later this month, the village is poised to pony up $780,000 to keep the project moving. Otherwise, the village said, BNSF warned it would stop the work.

The village's attorney advised it to pay the bill, but indicate on the check that it was doing so "under protest."

Village records show that Matthew Hans, a BNSF engineer, said much of the cost overrun was because of overtime. The village said 43 percent of the work was considered overtime.

In an email, Matthew Hans, a project engineer with BNSF, told the village that overtime labor was not factored into the original estimate. That overtime was the result of work windows, train traffic and service interruptions, Hans said.

Supert asked Hans in an email whether the railroad should have given the village some type of notice about the "substantial change."

Hans said he couldn't speak about his predecessor, who handled the project through mid-2021.

"I do see there has been a recent change in staffing within the last year, which could have contributed to the communication here," Hans said. "The rising cost could also have been noticed during consistent invoicing."

During the Village Board meeting, trustees questioned the big bill.

"Why would that be overtime? Why wouldn't that be in the normal course of the job?" Trustee James Tyrrell asked.

Supert responded that he could not say specifically why the railroad chose overtime. He said the railroad was blaming rail traffic.

That explanation didn't sit well with Village President Alice Gallager. She said BNSF should have been able to predict the traffic when it gave the original estimate.

But she said the village must write the check to keep the project moving.

Attorney Michael Juruski suggested the village audit the data and "force" BNSF's hand to clarify the information.

"We can pay under protest," he said.

Trustee Heidi Rudolph said the process sounded like "an open-ended opportunity to keep billing us."

Last year, village officials expressed their frustration in dealing with BNSF on another issue.

Patch has left a message for comment with BNSF.