The Town of Fort Frances once again is asking motorists who have to wait more than five minutes for a stopped train at the McIrvine Road crossing to speak up so the town can report the incidents to the Canadian National Railway.
Mayor Roy Avis said he has been receiving complaints of motorists having to wait up to 20 minutes at that train crossing, and asked Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown to look into it.
Brown determined that, according to Canadian Rail Operating Rule 103 Section C, “No part of a train or engine may be allowed to stand on any part of a public crossing at grade for a longer period than five minutes when vehicular or pedestrian traffic requires passage.”
The regulations also state: “Switching operations at such crossings must not obstruct vehicular or pedestrian traffic for a longer period than five minutes at a time.
“When emergency vehicles require passage, employees must co-operate to clear public crossings at grade and private crossings as quickly as possible.”
Brown noted, however, that a moving train has no time limits when it comes to blocking crossings.
Mayor Avis encouraged residents to report any trains stopped and blocking the crossing for more than five minutes either to:
•Public Works (274-9893),
•CN Rail (204-231-7859) attn: Roger Ans; or
•Transport Canada (416-973-5540) attn: operations officer
Brown noted the public should record:
•the time and date of the occurrence;
•the length of the delay; and
•if possible, the lead engine unit
Brown stressed that by reporting these stopped trains which are in non-compliance with Canadian Rail Operating Rules, CN will get charged for breaking the law and hopefully do something to rectify the situation.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, town council:
•recognized the following administrative staff for their years of commitment under the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario’s new membership service recognition program: Glenn Treftlin (20 years,) Darryl Allan (10 years), Laurie Witherspoon (10 years), Faye Flatt (10 years), and Mark McCaig (10 years);
•approved a request from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to proclaim Oct. 15-21, 2007 as “Citizenship Week” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•approved travel expenses for Coun. Paul Ryan in the amount of $813.22 (this was to attend the Northern Networks Trade Conference in Duluth last month);
•selected Toronto-based Associated Engineering as the wastewater engineering firm to complete a sewage treatment plant optimization study at a cost of $76,230, and authorized the mayor and clerk to execute an engineering agreement with the firm; and
•reconsidered a lease agreement with CitiTechnology Finance Ltd. for phone system upgrades for Public Works and the voice mail system at the Civic Centre, and agreed instead to purchase it, drawing $78,000 out of reserve funds to finance the capital purchase. (This avoids the 8.5 percent interest rate the town would otherwise pay through the lease agreement.)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
