28 November 2006
Complain Train Goes Nowhere
Pitt Meadows British Columbia - Most residents have
waited for what seems an eternity while a train crosses Harris Road in Pitt Meadows.
The wait might seem like forever, but in reality it's much shorter.
In fact, it's less than three minutes in most cases, according to train count statistics the District of Pitt Meadows gathered over
three days this fall.
A total of 65 trains were counted during the course of three days, and 50 of the crossing closures - or 77 percent of them - took
three minutes or less.
Another 11 percent of crossing closures were between three and five minutes, and 12 percent were more than five minutes.
The longest closure during the three days of counting took place on 6 Nov 2006 during the noon hour, at 12:21 p.m., when
the crossing backed up traffic for 11 minutes. The train had left CPR's Intermodal yard and then stopped to return to the yard.
Train crossings were counted on Friday, 20 Oct 2006 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and from 6:50 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both Wednesday
1 Nov 2006 and Monday, 6 Nov 2006.
The number of crossings was "fairly consistent" on all three days, wrote Ike de Boer, the district's engineering services
co-ordinator, in report to council. Twenty-three train crossings took place on 6 Nov 2006, 18
on 20 Oct 2006, and 20 on 1 Nov 2006.
There were a number of closures where no train was present, and those occurred mainly when the West Coast Express was loading in the
morning, he wrote.
The counts were completed to verify residents' concerns about the length of time people wait at the crossings, wrote de Boer.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Don MacLean said he and councillors receive numerous phone calls about the length of the wait at the crossings.
MacLean said the count was done to address the anecdotal evidence he and councillors hear.
They can now pass along this information to those on the other end of the line, he said.
However, there's little that Pitt Meadows council can do about the situation, said MacLean.
Pitt Meadows would have to dole out millions of dollars - MacLean suggested in the vicinity of $15 to $20 million - for an overpass.
And it couldn't count on much help, if any, from senior governments to offset construction costs, he added.
It is a drawback to living in the community, MacLean said, but he added there are many benefits to residing in the community of
17,000.
But with the arrival of the Golden Ears Bridge in 2009, he hopes much of the traffic that currently travels along Harris Road will be
diverted off of Pitt Meadows's main road.
The bridge will link Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows with neighbours Langley and Surrey on the south side of the Fraser River.
"We're taking a lot of Maple Ridge traffic," he said.
While not suggesting anyone else does it, MacLean said he adds 10 minutes to his travel time just in case a train is crossing Harris
Road.
But as Murphy Law would have it, the time when you're in a hurry, you're waiting behind the crossing arms as a train rolls on by, he
said.
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