Western Springs Railroad Dispute Settled

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs appears to have resolved its payment dispute with BNSF Railway.

In April, village officials went public with their objections to a big increase in what Western Springs was asked to pay the railroad for an underpass project.

Earlier this year, the village was projected to pay $2.8 million, instead of the original $2.1 million. Outside grants are set to cover some costs.

Through a public records request this month, Patch obtained much of the correspondence between the railroad and the village about the dispute. (The village failed to release two documents, a decision a watchdog group questioned.)

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, village spokeswoman Selmin Cicek said the invoice in question was $964,783.

The village made two payments – one in March for $555,214, the other in mid-June for $409,569.

"There will be additional charges (for flaggers) going forward, but the invoice in question has been paid in full," Cicek said.

In its emails to the village, the railroad warned it would stop the project if it did not receive the money.

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, Hans 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.

Matthew Supert, the village's municipal services director, 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 a Village Board meeting in April, 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 he could not say specifically why the railroad chose overtime. He said the railroad blamed 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.

Patch published a story in April with BNSF's defense.

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, BNSF spokesman Ben Wilemon said, "We have resolved the invoice confusion with the Village of Western Springs. The June 17 payment was the remainder of the balance due. The Village has paid all submitted invoices in full up through June 2022."