There may just come a day when Squamish citizens will be able to sleep through the night without being awakened by the shrieking trains.
The District of Squamish is looking at upgrading crossings in the budget that may put a stop to the whistles.
Mayor Heintzman said CN has very strict protocols and federal safety regulations for whistling, but there are ways in which railway crossing intersections can be updated in a way so there is no whistling.
Responding to a citizen who voiced concerns about the train whistling, she said the federal government has mandated all municipalities to upgrade crossings to a certain standard.
For the past few years, the district has been systematically upgrading crossings based on a priority basis, but the process is quite expensive.
This year, however, the district has scheduled three crossing upgrades, all of the in downtown Suqamish: At Loggers Lane, Cleveland Avenue, and the pedestrian crossings near Squamish Elementary School.
“We rely heavily (80 percent) on federal funding as these are very expensive and we have 22 crossings throughout the community. These crossing upgrades don’t currently have cessation upgrades included in their budgets but we’ve asked staff to look into the possibility. Council sees the disturbance from railway whistling as a serious concern and communicates regularly with CN on how to mitigate,” Heintzman said.
Five years ago, the district undertook an estimate to eliminate whistling at Amblepath through to Lesky’s Crossing along Government Road just north of Mamquam elementary school – 2 crossings.
At that time, each crossing was estimated to be $300,000 including the required fencing.
If you would like to provide comment or feedback directly to CN, here is a link to the CN “contact us” section on their website if you need any more information. http://www.cn.ca/en/contact-usor they can be reached by telephone at 1-888-888-5909
Donny says
I live 30 yards from the track. In 15 years , after the first week, I have never been wakened by the train or the whistle.
Coyotes yapping, well, that’s another thing altogether.
Judy Crowston says
The railway was here first. Don’t you think a person would check out the neighborhood before moving in?
Carol says
You are correct, Judy. We lived in Brackendale for 32 years & when the train whistled at night it meant it was 1:00 & time to roll over. We miss the sound of the
train whistle. There must be other things that Squamish could spend their money on.