The topic of train whistle cessation will be rolling through Sicamous council again.
It was brought up at a recent committee of the whole meeting in response to complaints from residents who live near the tracks, says Mayor Terry Rysz.
“The interesting thing is, and probably why people would like to hear it stop, is there’s a train every 20 minutes now – there are more trains now coming through Sicamous than there ever were before and so, that whistle is blowing constantly,” says a sympathetic Rysz.
The mayor, however, has been through this discussion before when he served the district as a councillor on the previous council.
“There’s a lot to consider,” said Rysz. “The cost of putting in a crossing with the mechanical arms is quite expensive. That would lay on the shoulders of the community. There’s also liability insurance as soon as we do that. So it’s a conversation we need to have with CP Rail again.
“When we deliberated it with our previous council, we came to a conclusion that it probably wasn’t in the best interest of the community at that stage. But this is a new council so they might see it differently.”
Rysz said CP would have to be onboard too, noting there was some reluctance in the past.
“In the last conversation with CP, they weren’t that supportive of doing that,” said Rysz. “They certainly would not be in support of eliminating the whistle without mechanical arms. I know CP Rail would be concerned – of course they would be for safety reasons. The last thing CP Rail wants is for one of their trains to hit a car.”