City eyes $50K tab to stop train from whistling

Stopping train whistles near the Wheat City Golf Course would cost the City of Brandon more than $50,000, council heard this week.

The city has received complaints for years over the blaring horns from Canadian Pacific Kansas City trains that use the line, which passes through a residential neighbourhood an average of 19 times per day.

City administration gave a presentation on the issue at a special meeting Monday evening so council can discuss it during budget deliberations.

“In 2022, the City of Brandon received complaints from residents — primarily those living in the newly constructed condo development at the Wheat City Golf Course — of the constant whistling that trains make on the CPKC line approaching the 34th Street right of way,” City of Brandon traffic and transportation planner Sam van Huizen said.

For CPKC to stop blowing its train whistles at that location, the 34th Street intersection’s crossing arms have to go down earlier as the train approaches. To do so, the city would need to pay CPKC to move the arm’s trigger points, so the trains hit them sooner, lowering the gates for a longer period of time.

The change would make the arms go down 19 seconds before the train arrives, up from the standard 12 seconds.

“That additional time is due to the grade of the roadway, as well as the curvature of the rail line, and just the various specific characteristics at this crossing,” van Huizen said.

The full cost of the upgrade for the city would be $50,660, most of which is to move the trigger points. The rest of the price would be to update signage, both along the rail and on 34th Street, and liability insurance.

The trains would still be able to whistle if they need to, such as in an emergency.

“The railway has a requirement under the law to notify — with their whistles — various patterns for emergencies, for if they see vehicles on the track after a certain point, they need to chime the whistle,” van Huizen said.

Aside from the 50th Street crossing where the city borders with the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, this is the only crossing in Brandon where the CPKC trains whistle. The CN lines that go through the city near the Brandon Regional Health Centre and Keystone Centre also use their whistles, although an average of only two trains per week use the line, city administration said.

There is also a private crossing at 17th Street East that would have a whistle, although the city doesn’t have any jurisdiction on that line.

Brenda Barnes-Kilmury, 65, who lives about a block away from the 34th Street crossing, said she is in favour of the cessation, adding that $50,000 is “a spit in the bucket.”

“You’re not supposed to have big parties after 11, but the trains can blow the living crap out of their horns and wake up your kids, and it disrupts my sleep. I have insomnia, so when I fall asleep, anything wakes me up, and the train whistle blowing, like I can’t leave — I can’t leave my windows open in the summer. How annoying is that?” she said.

“It’s unnecessary, and it needs to stop.”

Barnes-Kilmury said she doesn’t have any complaints about the beautiful neighbourhood she lives in, “except that damn whistle.”

The $50,000 price tag can be made up with a year or two of spending less on flowers and greenery around the city, she suggested.

If whistling cessation were to happen, the neighbourhood would instantly become “80 per cent better,” she said, noting she can live with the rumbling the train makes.

She added that the horns definitely bring down property values for the entire neighbourhood.

A couple of houses down, 63-year-old Debbie Grant said while she has to pause her TV or conversations when a train comes by, the whistle cessation isn’t worth the price.

“I’ve been here for so long, I think I’ve adjusted,” she said, adding the noise is “very, very loud.” Grant has lived in her current home since the 1990s and in the neighbourhood since 1975.

She said the only time the train whistle can be annoying is when she has the windows open during the summer.

While she has never complained about it, she said, she also wouldn’t complain if the whistling stopped.

CPKC is required to whistle at all crossings (that don’t have a cessation in place) at least a quarter mile before reaching the crossing, company spokesperson Terry Cunha said.

Over at the golf course, associate golf professional Ryon Barnesky said the train blaring close to 20 times a day takes away from the peaceful atmosphere people expect at golf courses.

Aside from that, he said he doesn’t pay too much attention to the whistle.

“You hear it so much, you kind of just get used to it. But I can imagine if I lived here, it would be quite annoying,” he said.

Coun. Jason Splett, who is part of the city’s Vision Zero Committee that focuses on reducing collisions, said people have become accustomed to the lights and other forms of safety at crossings over the decades.

“The proof will be over time,” Splett (Ward 8) said in an interview before Monday’s meeting. “I am concerned that it’ll increase the chance of people not being aware of the surroundings and the potential train coming.

“At the end of the day, the noise is one thing, but we want to make sure everybody’s safe.”

The city’s 5:30 p.m. presentation wasn’t part of the regular council meeting Monday but was instead scheduled to be part of a special meeting closed to the public. The city opened the whistle cessation topic to the public after the Sun asked for it Monday afternoon. The other topics during the special meeting were kept closed to the public.

» alambert@brandonsun.com