Appeals for relief from train whistles in Sapperton continue to ring out in council chambers.
At the Jan. 9 meeting, a Sapperton resident told council he’s pleased with the attention the issue has received since the Oct. 15 civic election. He noted that trains are required to use their horns at three train crossings in Sapperton – at Braid, Spruce and Cumberland streets.
“In all honesty, this is a very serious issue in our community,” said Brynn, who did not give his last name. “We have people that have moved into Sapperton; they've had to move out a few months later because their children can't sleep throughout the day or night, their routine interrupted by train whistle noise. In the summertime, we have people that have to make the difficult decision to leave their doors and windows open and are routinely woken up by train whistle noise.”
At a train whistle forum held earlier this year, Brynn said he read a statement from a physician, who expressed concern about the impact train whistles are having on vulnerable people at the mental health facility in Sapperton.
On Monday, Brynn told council that a lot of the people attending the train whistle forum felt it would be beneficial for the city to re-establish its former railway community advisory panel. He also suggested the city reach out to former councillor Chuck Puchmayr, who served on the panel for many years and “had a lot of success” and “good relationships with people in the railway industry” to see if he could help get train whistle cessation at Sapperton railway crossings.
“I want to reassure you, it's a priority,” Coun. Ruby Campbell said of train whistle cessation.
Coun. Tasha Henderson said the city’s engineering director took council members on a walking tour of a Quayside crossing where whistle cessation has been achieved and explained how complicated it was to eliminate the need for train whistles at that downtown location.
“I think she referred to it as a minor miracle, but they did it,” she said.
Henderson said councillors also visited Sapperton sites where the city hopes to achieve train whistle cessation. She said city staff are currently working with the private railways on initiatives to eliminate train whistles Sapperton.
“One of three (railways) have approved the Spruce site, and the other two we are waiting to hear from,” she noted. “But we're hopeful that (city) staff are organizing with their staff. And so that's why the motion was passed not to re-establish that committee because this isn't a government issue at this point. This is about the private railways approving our plans, and so we're working on it.”
In December, council considered a six-point motion about train whistles from councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas. Part of the motion called on council to re-establish the former railway community advisory panel, but a majority of council voted to consider the reestablishment of the railway community advisory panel as part of a strategic planning session, where the issue of civic committees is being discussed. Some aspects of the motion were rejected, but council did approve parts of the motion asking that staff provide quarterly updates to city council and the public regarding progress made to eliminate train whistles and staff ensure the city’s website, containing critical information regarding whistle cessation, is updated with the latest information.
Henderson said the city has filled a staffing position for a person who will be working on this issue, so residents can expect regular updates from staff and council about train whistle cessation.
It’s complex
Like Puchmayr, who lost his bid for mayor in the Oct. 15 civic election, some residents have voiced support for re-establishment of the railway community advisory panel, saying it would be beneficial for the city to have a political voice at the table when dealing with railway companies.
“At this point, we need technical experts in the room,” Henderson said at Monday’s meeting. “The advocacy piece around developing a process for municipalities to apply for cessation was paramount. And Chuck Puchmayr absolutely played a role in that, from my understanding. Now that that process is formalized, our work now is with is with engineering to provide technical plans, and for the railway companies to approve or not approve those plans.”
Formed in 2012 and eliminated in 2020, the railway community advisory panel included representatives from the city and the four railway companies operating in New West, as well as a couple of residents, who discussed a variety of topics related to rail issues in the city.
Lisa LeBlanc, the city’s director of engineering, said the advisory panel was instrumental in creating a foundation for the whistle cessation process that’s now in place and in establishing relationships between the city and the various railway companies.
“We are now at the point where we have a very clear process and a Transport Canada-approved process, and we are kind of off to the races,” she said. “Our job now is to implement and to work directly with the technical staff at each of the rail companies.”
Although technical work on the issue has been continuous, LeBlanc said the entire technical committee hasn’t been meeting regularly because of the pandemic and staff turnover at city hall.
“We have been meeting with the individual rail companies individually to progress things,” she told the Record. “So, when we talk about restarting a technical committee, the purpose would be to bring each of the technical people from each of the rail companies together with the relevant person at Transport Canada, together with our staff, so we can all look each other in the eye a few times a year, share experiences, knowledge and technical information, provide project updates.”
In terms of railway issues, LeBlanc said she has two objectives for the first quarter of 2023, which is March 31: to convene a meeting of the technical committee; and to provide a status update on the railway portfolio to council, including whistle cessation.
LeBlanc said the city has always had a staff position that supports the rail portfolio, which includes whistle cessation, rail crossing safety and relationships with the rail companies. That work is also supported by the manager of strategic projects, as well as another engineering manager who has years of experience on the railway issue.
“The technologist supports the actual work, like getting the actual capital projects planned and delivered,” she said. “The technologist is also our primary liaison to their equivalents at each of the rail companies. So, each of the rail companies have the boots on the ground, if you will, their technical staff who we liaise with on the technical things, and then where relationships are required at a higher level with the rail companies, the managers support those higher level interactions.”
Given that it’s a small municipality, LeBlanc said New Westminster needs to be flexible and resourceful in how it assigns project areas to staff. While she can’t think of one job in engineering where staff has only one area to focus on, that’s what’s happening on the railway issue for now.
“The technologist that we've hired recently is new to the city, so we are giving them the time and space they need to really get up to speed on the portfolio,” she said. “It's a really complex, convoluted portfolio, with really challenging relationships. So we’re giving our new person a chance to get up to speed, and that is all that they're working on. I doubt that that's going to be the case going into the future.”
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