Trains whistles could soon cease at a crossing in Queensborough – but whistle cessation is years away on the other side of the city.
A May 6 report to council provided an update about the City of New Westminster’s efforts to achieve train whistle cessation at crossings across the city.
Whistle cessation will soon be coming to Furness at Duncan streets in the Queensborough neighbourhood. Southern Railway of BC (SRY) has completed final sign-off of whistle cessation at that crossing, said a report to council.
“It is very exciting,” said Lisa Leblanc, the city’s director of engineering. “It's been a long time coming there.”
Leblanc said staff are preparing a report requesting that council pass a resolution stating that train whistling should not be used at that crossing. Staff expect to take that report to council’s next regular meeting, which is on May 27.
“Following that, then it bounces back to the rail company, to SRY in this case, and they prepare all of the instructions for the train operators, and we more or less there,” she said. “Then it's a matter of continuing to monitor and work together between the city and the rail company to ensure that the cessation order remains in place and is abided by.”
Coun. Tasha Henderson said it’s exciting to see whistle cessation coming to that location.
“That's a key spot in Queensborough, so I'm sure folks will be excited about that,” she said.
The staff report outlined other short- and mid-term opportunities for whistle cessation in New West:
- West End – the 20th Street crossing and the Fourth Avenue crossing. The date of whistle cessation at both of these crossings is to be determined, but the city’s consultant solicitor is currently preparing position papers on the recommended steps to achieve whistle cessation at each both crossings.
- Sapperton – Cumberland Street crossing. A report to council said the estimated completion of whistle cessation at this location is the third quarter of 2025.
“The (Cumberland) conceptual design has been reviewed to include input from the rail companies and is now ready to move to detailed design,” said the report. “An approved shortlist of design consultants has recently been completed, which allows staff to complete design work more expediently. Staff are also continuing to review the proposed construction and maintenance agreements and associated cost apportionments for the work.”
Spruce Street complications
The Spruce Street crossing is listed as a short- or mid-term project for whistle cessation, but the timing of that is yet to be determined. As noted during the previous update to council in January, the City of New Westminster and the railway are at a “technical impasse” on plans for achieving whistle cessation at this crossing.
Leblanc the city is working with CN Rail with respect to the Spruce Street crossing.
“It's a bit of a complicated crossing,” she said. “We've arrived at a place where our technical advisors are suggesting one set of measures that that they believe, in their professional opinion, are sufficient to achieve whistle cessation there. And the technical advisors from CN have arrived at a different conclusion. So, we are making an application to the Canadian Transportation Agency to ask them to rule on it.”
According to Leblanc, the city’s submission is being prepared now and should go to the CTA at the end of June. She said the city has heard that it takes the CTA three to six months to conduct its review and make an assessment.
“If their assessment aligns with our assessment, we will then launch into the detailed design and ordering equipment and proceed with the final details,” she said. “Given how long it takes to get design done, to order equipment and to plan construction, we're estimating between two to three years to get the equipment and all of the agreements in place to achieve cessation at that location.”
If the CTA rules in favour of CN's technical assessment, Leblanc said it is going to take longer to achieve whistle cessation at the Spruce crossing.
“We don't actually have a good a good read on how much longer because it becomes a lot more complicated, and we would have to regroup,” she said. “But it would definitely be longer than in three years.”
Leblanc said the situation at Spruce Street is not a “battle” between the City of New Westminster and CN Rail.
“These types of crossings are very complicated; there's a number of factors at play. We have just arrived at a point where mutually we've agreed that is necessary to have a third party look at look at each of the submissions,” she said. “So, it's not an adversarial thing, it's part of the process.”
Long-term projects
According to the staff report, long-term projects that will likely require extensive structural modifications or road/rail realignment – and significant capital investment – to achieve whistle cessation are located in Sapperton (Braid Street at Brunette Avenue, and Braid Street at Vulcan Street) and in Queensborough (Furness Street at Ewen Avenue, Mercer Street at Ewen Avenue, Ewen Avenue at Stanley Street, Ewen Avenue multiuse path at Stanley Street, and Salter Street at Derwent Way.)
“These crossings are some of the most complex that we have, particularly in Sapperton, because of how they're configured there,” Leblanc said.
Because of the complexities around Braid Street, Leblanc said the only way to achieve whistle cessation is by grade separation of the road and the rail.
“And that is unlikely to be a project that the city would have the capital dollars to invest,” she told council Monday night. “So, it would likely be done in conjunction with future changes to the Brunette interchange.”
Henderson said she doesn’t think that’s a location is where the city wants to put its efforts, in terms of community impacts.
“We have the budget in there, we have the staff resources now,” she told staff Monday night. “But if there's anything else that you need to help move Cumberland along faster, obviously council would want to know and move that forward, especially given the constraints at Spruce.
Henderson said the sound is one thing, but because the Spruce and Cumberland crossings are so close together “it just feels like one continuous blow” for residents in the neighbourhood.
The City of New Westminster’s five-year financial plan includes $3.6 million to support rail crossing upgrades and whistle cessation projects, inclusive of an additional $0.5 million for assessing the crossings in Queensborough, said a staff report.
The city’s 2024 capital budget includes $1.5 million for safety upgrades and whistle cessation initiatives.
According to the staff report, the City of New Westminster has received 45 rail-related communications since January 2023 (40 in 2023 and five in the first quarter of 2024). Of these 45 communications, 39 were related to whistles and the other were related to a variety of other issues.
