Train Action Group stays on track with rail negotiations

The WTAG, which was formed in the mid-1990s to fight increased noise that seemed to get worse every year for residents living adjacent to the railway tracks along the southern edge of Westmount, has been meeting about twice a year, for the past four years, with representatives of the AMT to seek a solution to train noise and vibrations.

The purpose of these meetings has been to address their three main concerns: the high speed of trains passing through lower Westmount, updating and improving the tracks, and fixing or moving the track switch points located near the apartment building on the former POM bakery site.

“The concern mainly is the vibrations, the incredible noise and the speed of the trains,” said a spokesman for WTAG who asked not to be identified.

According to the spokesman, when AMT took over control of the tracks around 2000, they began running bigger locomotives and new double-decker passenger cars over the aging rail infrastructure at higher speeds than previously, resulting in a well documented noise increase along the tracks.

When pressed on the first issue at the July meeting, AMT’s Gauthier said that he could not be flexible on the issue of speed. According to the WTAG, Gauthier told them that the AMT “needs the flexibility to control the schedule of their trains.”

The second issue of upgrading and improving the tracks saw WTAG revisiting a victory which came up short. Two years ago, they said, AMT had agreed to weld the gaps of about 90 per cent of the affected track together, thus reducing click-clack noise, and also fixing railway ties and ballasts under the tracks.

WTAG had even secured $1.7 million in funding from the Quebec government to get the work done.

The work was never completed. AMT reportedly stated that only 40 per cent of the track had been welded before funding ran out, thus halting work. AMT said that WTAG should look to CP Rail, which still operates and maintains the infrastructure, for answers as to where the money went.

The track welding was estimated to decrease track noise by 60 to 80 per cent, but testing done by local engineers, estimate the current reduction to be around 10 per cent.

The third item on the agenda was the most positive point to come out of the July meeting.

WTAG sought to have the five switch points, now over 40 years old, either moved or fixed. Switch points tend to be one of the most stressed points on a rail track, and the WTAG spokesman said that when trains pass over them, there is often an immense thud that vibrates through the nearby homes.

Gauthier said that AMT had already would be replacing two of the five switches this fall, and that parts were already on order from Calgary. CP Rail has also sent a proposal to AMT for the replacement of the remaining three switches by 2008, which could happen when funding is secured.

The WTAG spokesman said that people living near the tracks are realistic about what it means to live near passing trains, but that the increased noise has crossed a line. There have even been several cases of large cracks begin to appear in nearby homes.

“We’ll keep on until we’ve achieved the three goals that we set out to do,” he said.