Valemount Council votes to pursue whistle cessation policy

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

The Village of Valemount is staring down a nearly $1.6M project to upgrade its railroad crossings following a Council decision to pursue a train whistle cessation policy. If implemented, the policy would prohibit trains from whistling when they approach two crossings — at Dogwood Street and 5th Avenue — but the Village will need to upgrade its railroad crossing warning system first.

The topic of whistle cessation has long been a recurring issue among Valemount councillors and residents. Council most recently discussed the issue in December 2023, when they hired consulting firm McElhanney Ltd. to produce an assessment on the popularity and feasibility of a whistle cessation policy.

Eighteen months later, the firm says it is still waiting on details from CN. McElhanney could not respond to The Goat’s request for comment on the remaining details as the firm is no longer working on the project. The firm forwarded questions to Chief Financial Officer Lori McNee, who was unable to respond by press time.

However, Village staff and the consultants working on the assessment decided to share the information they currently have with Council. Engineer-in-training Caleb Marttinen and traffic engineer Joel Taker outlined the firm’s findings in a presentation during the June 24th council meeting.

For Valemount to legally implement a whistle cessation policy, the Village would need to upgrade the railroad crossings at the Dogwood Street-Main Street intersection, and the 5th Avenue-Main Street intersection, according to the report. That would include a new warning system with gate arms that stay down longer, reseeding dirt paths where people have illegally crossed the tracks, and brushing vegetation near crossings for increased visibility.

As part of its research, the firm circulated a seven-question survey about train whistles and use of local railroad crossings among Valemount residents for two days last summer. According to the survey, 92 per cent of the 287 respondents are in favour of a whistle cessation policy. The vast majority of respondents – 72 per cent – said they are awoken by train whistles over three times a week, while only 11 per cent said they are never awoken by whistles.

Despite the overwhelming popularity of the proposed policy among residents, the process to get whistle cessation has been a gradual one. Attempts to get started on a whistle cessation policy date back to at least 2017, when CN applied to Transport Canada to install crossing gates at Dogwood Street and 5th Avenue. When the process to install gate crossings finally got under way in February 2022, many residents hoped the upgrade would lead to peaceful, whistle-free nights – but three years later, CN says work remains to be done before Valemount meets the legal requirements for a whistle cessation policy.

That work includes increasing the gate arm clearance time at railroad crossings – that is, the amount of time between the warning system’s lights beginning to flash and the descent of the crossing gate arms. The current nine second clearance time is sufficient for cars, but because school buses and vehicles towing trailers use the railroad crossings, CN recommended a minimum gate arm clearance time of 13.4 seconds. Marttinen said the consulting firm is still discussing other upgrades to the warning system with CN, but did not specify which aspects of the warning system need improvement.

“Warning systems in general, especially for railways, are quite complex,” Marttinen said. “With the warning system, we’re still discussing with CN what may be required – infrastructure or otherwise – to support the changes.”

Aside from infrastructure upgrades, CN police have concerns about locals trespassing on the company’s right-of-way, Marttinen said. For example, residents often cross over the tracks near Cedar Street, which lies between the two official crossings at Dogwood Street and 5th Avenue. Additionally, CN police said people tend to loiter near the VIA rail stop on Main Street.

Councillor Pete Pearson said he disagrees with CN police’s definition of loitering.

“They’re kind of mandated to wait there. I wouldn’t describe that as loitering,” he said.

Taker said the police had seen cases where people were waiting well before or after a VIA train arrived, which got a chuckle from Pearson.

“I don’t know if you want to open that can of worms with VIA and their scheduling,” he said. “An eight-hour delay in a passenger train is not unusual in the wintertime here.”

Torgerson asked Taker and Marttinen if they could comment on the gate arm clearance time, since the report says the minimum clearance time for a bus is 8.9 seconds based on the clearance time formula in the federal Grade Crossing Standards.

“Is it your opinion – given CN’s focus on safety, safety, safety – that they just met the bare minimum?” Torgerson said.

Marttinen said the current gate arm clearance time was based on cars, not buses. He added that while the time technically satisfies legal requirements for a bus, the amount of time warning systems need to be in effect vary based on a number of factors so he and CN Rail believe the time should be increased.

Torgerson asked if Taker and Marttinen had an idea of the success rate for getting grant funding for the railroad crossing upgrades required for a whistle cessation policy.

Marttinen said he previously worked with the City of Kamloops on a similar project and they successfully obtained grant funding, but he isn’t familiar enough with the grant application process to say if Valemount has a good chance of winning grants. 

Pearson, who has previously worked for CN, remarked that the train tracks through Valemount have a high speed limit. He asked if other communities with similar track speeds have successfully implemented a whistle cessation policy.

“That is dependent on CN,” Marttinen said. “They didn’t bring any concerns forward with the track speed.”

Taker said concerns about speed could be mitigated with improved visibility around railroad crossings from vegetation brushing.

Torgerson thanked Marttinen and Taker for their presentation.

“We really appreciate the work and effort that’s gone into this partnership with the Village of Valemount,” he said. “We look forward to next steps.”

The next steps in question are outlined in a 2022 email CN Rail sent to Eric Depenau, who served as Valemount’s CAO from July 2022 to October 2023. According to the email, the Village will have to notify the public that it intends to adopt a whistle cessation policy, make the necessary upgrades to its railroad crossings, and consult with CN Rail to make sure the company agrees the crossings are safe enough to implement whistle cessation. Then, Council can adopt the policy and CN Rail will issue instructions for conductors to stop whistling in the area and notify Transport Canada that whistle cessation has begun.

The Village will have to continue paying McElhanney consultants for their assistance in the meantime, according to the June 24th staff report. And with a $1.6M price tag for crossing improvements alone, there’s no telling how much of the project can be covered with grants. During council’s June 24th meeting, Mayor Owen Torgerson described the grant writing process as a roll of the dice.

Council unanimously voted to pursue a whistle cessation policy. Valemount staff will confirm next steps with CN Rail and begin researching grants which may cover the cost of crossing upgrades, including Transport Canada’s Rail Safety Improvement Program.

The Goat will continue to follow this story.