Editorial: Dangling the carrot of whistle cessation

By Spencer Hall

In order to proceed with train whistle cessation in Valemount, the Village may need to shell out over $1.5 million to install new crossing arms at the rail crossings at Main and Dogwood, despite CN having previously installed crossing arms at these locations in February of 2022.

Part of the reason for this costly upgrade is that the crossing arms currently installed are just 0.1 seconds over the requirement for crossing gate arm clearance in McElhanney Ltd. ‘s whistle cessation feasibility study. The previous clearance estimate was based on a car or pickup truck, however the contractor said that as a part of the study, they had to change the classification of vehicles using the crossing.

Essentially, because school buses, RVs and longer trailers use these crossings and typically take longer to clear the crossing, the gate arms may need to be deployed sooner than they currently are — but just barely. The recommended time for longer vehicles is 8.9 seconds and as our crossing arms take 9 seconds, they do meet the requirement previously provided by CN. McElhanney said the Village will need to continue conversations with CN to see if the current crossing arms meet requirements because the rail company may prefer crossing arms that deploy a few seconds earlier.

The Village will also need to figure out a way to mitigate CN Police’s trespassing concerns, one of which being that Via Rail passengers are daring to wait for their train by the tracks, sometimes long after the train was supposed to arrive. Apparently the rail company is unfamiliar with rail delays.

I commend Valemount Council for continuing to pursue solutions to the longstanding issue of intrusive train whistles, despite the hefty price tag, but I feel that CN and Transport Canada need to make the process of train whistle cessation more transparent and less complicated. It’s not like traffic in Valemount has changed significantly since 2022, so if the current crossing arms are unsuitable, they shouldn’t have been installed. If the Village needs to upgrade the crossing arms, at least part of the cost should be eaten by CN for providing an unsuitable time estimate for gate clearance.

The issue of train whistle cessation has been longstanding in Valemount and it feels like each time the Village makes progress, a wrench gets thrown into its plans, with CN dangling the carrot to make the municipality jump through the hoop.

This may be a cynical way of looking at things, perhaps it’s the lack of sleep myself and a significant amount of other Valemountians endure because of the late night and early morning blasts of the train whistle. As a part of the public engagement portion of the whistle cessation assessment, a survey was released to Valemount residents. Out of the 287 responses, 206 residents said they are disturbed or awoken more than three times per week as a result of train whistles. 

Noise pollution caused by these whistles can lead to significant health problems. According to National Geographic, exposure to loud noise can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disturbances, and stress. Lack of sleep over a long period of time is linked to kidney disease, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression, according to the American National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

It is my hope that we continue the process of whistle cessation to improve the health and quality of life of those living in Valemount, I appreciate that Village staff and Council are continuing to put in the hard work to make whistle cessation a reality for Valemount residents.