22 February 2007
New Yard May Ease Local Rail Woes
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Bridge planned over tracks.
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Cambridge Ontario - CP Rail has federal approval to build a
$30-million marshalling yard near Woodstock that might be part of a solution for daily traffic headaches in Cambridge.
But Cambridge drivers will have to wait until a meeting 6 Mar 2007 to find out how - or even if - a planned rail yard serving
Woodstock's new Toyota factory might help relieve Hespeler Road gridlock.
That's when Waterloo Region staff plan to update residents about talks with the railway on a plan to move a rail yard out of Cambridge,
with taxpayers helping cover the cost.
"I don't know what the report says, but I'm hopeful we have a deal," Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig said.
Hespeler Road's history of rail-related traffic tie-ups made news again this week as malfunctioning safety arms
caused a major backup at the intersection of Coronation Boulevard, Water Street, Dundas Street and Hespeler Road - known to locals as the
Delta.
For years, Craig has been pressing regional council to fix the city's biggest traffic headache. The latest plan calls for a
$25-million bridge to carry Hespeler Road over the tracks. The two-year project is tentatively set to start
construction in 2009.
Last June, however, came news of talks with CP to move the rail yard out of town. That would reduce the number of trains crossing Hespeler
Road, trim the cost of a bridge, and speed up when it could be built.
"All I can say is the talks are still going on," Regional Chair Ken Seiling said.
In June, regional officials said the railway was ready to move the yard out of town and keep the remaining trains off Hespeler Road during
the morning and afternoon rush hours.
Yesterday, a railway official said construction of the Woodstock yard should be done by the time the new Toyota factory opens in 2008. The
Canadian Transportation Agency approved the plans 2 Feb 2007.
But Ed Greenberg also said the Woodstock marshalling yard has nothing to do with the railway's plans in Cambridge.
"As far as I know, the new yard is to serve the (new) Toyota plant," Greenberg said.
Previous regional staff reports state that moving CP Rail's most southerly Cambridge yard west to Woodstock would reduce daily train
crossings of Hespeler Road by 75 percent.
Today, an average of 22 slow trains cross the four-lane road, most of them in shunting movements that stop trains across the
road as crews hook and unhook rail cars.
CP trains carry thousands of Toyota Corolla and Lexus cars a day from the Fountain Street plant. They travel along a line parallel to
King Street and Coronation Boulevard, before crossing Hespeler Road and swinging south to meet CP's main East-West Ontario
tracks at Samuelson Street.
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