Duane Hicks
The possibility of longer trains has sparked town council to provide input to Transport Canada’s consultation plan for railway-roadway grade crossing regulations.
Transport Canada is looking at new rules to improve safety at rail crossings, but Coun. Ken Perry said at last night’s council meeting that waiting a long time for trains at crossings, like the one at McIrvine Road here, is a safety issue in its own right.
As such, the consultation is the time to let Transport Canada know how the town feels about it.
“I know one person who spent an hour and 20 minutes at that crossing one time, a little old lady who didn’t like to turn her car around so she sat and waited, and then the traffic piled up behind her so she couldn’t turn around afterwards anyways,” Coun. Perry noted.
“An hour and 20 minutes is kind of much. We’ve got to do something about it, and now is the time to do some public submissions,” he stressed.
“I know we can’t do much, but we’ve got to try.”
Coun. Perry said rail companies already are looking at extending trains to 1.5 to two miles long, or perhaps even longer. And if this happens, “the wait times at the local crossings are going to go nuts.”
Coun. Paul Ryan said he’s even seen an interview with the CEO of CNR, where he talked about how they’re experimenting with three-mile long trains with two engines in the middle and are saving fuel.
Whether the CNR goes ahead with doing that in future isn’t yet known.
The deadline to provide input is April 24.
Council referred the matter to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for its recommendation, with input from the Community Services executive committee.
Also last night, council passed a bylaw to impose 2012 sewer and water user fees, meaning customers will see somewhat higher bills starting next month.
As previously reported, the new fee schedule includes a one-percent increase to the flat rate for residential customers (water will be going up from $35.47 to $35.82 a month while sewer will go up from $31.29 to $31.61).
It also includes a three-percent increase to the volumetric rate for the industrial and commercial classes, and a new institutional class (separate from industrial and commercial), with a nine-percent increase to the volumetric rate.
There also is a reduction in the amount of water included in the institutional and commercial and industrial minimum flat rate from 216 cubic metres to 180 cubic metres a year.
These increases are expected to generate additional revenue in the amount of $216,556.41, which will go into reserves to help pay for future sewer and water infrastructure replacement.
Coun. Ryan noted after last night’s meeting that other municipalities are doing even more to plan for the future, noting Kenora is raising its sewer and water rates by 10 percent each year for the next five years.
