(The following story by Jennifer Stone appeared on the Durham Region website on March 26.)
CLARINGTON, Ontario — Trains will keep whistling through Clarington, in spite of a new round of complaints from residents.
The Wilmot Creek Homeowners’ Association sent a letter to the Municipality recently, asking Clarington to “petition the Canadian National Railway to institute a stop-whistle designation on the two rail lines running in close proximity to the Wilmot Creek community.”
It’s an issue which has come up again and again over the years, but residents should have been aware of the whistles when they moved in, said Regional Ward 3 and 4 Councillor Charlie Trim.
“This is an old problem from the residents,” he said. “They certainly, when they bought their homes, knew that the train tracks were there.”
Fifty-six trains pass through the Wilmot Creek corridor on a 24-hour basis, said Coun. Trim.
It’s an issue council has been lobbied about before. In 1999, in response to requests to have whistles silenced elsewhere in Clarington, a CN spokesman said while there are ways for municipalities to implement anti-whistling bylaws, there’s a good reason for the noise.
“Noise from train operations — including train whistling — is a fact of life for many Canadians who live near railway facilities. In fact, train whistling is often considered a nuisance that ‘someone’ should remove,” said public affairs director Ian Thomson in a 1999 letter to then-mayor Diane Hamre. “However, most people don’t fully understand that train whistles, together with crossing protection, are a key element in ensuring public safety at rail/road crossings.”
Should the Municipality decide to lobby for the whistles to be silenced, it could be held liable in the event of an accident, noted Coun. Trim. There are good reasons to continue using the safety feature, he said.
“Trains seem to be longer, rail lines seem to be older with little repair, and now, we’re stacking containers two high,” he said, noting, even with a bylaw, the whistles could still be used.
“In the final analysis the train engineer has the final say in how often to use the whistle, and for how long,” said the councillor.