20 June 2007
City, CPR to Discuss Rail Issues
Salmon Arm British Columbia - A CP Rail official will be
coming to Salmon Arm to meet with city staff and politicians.
Following letters from city council and residents requesting double tracking of the railway through Salmon Arm, Rick Poznikoff, CPR
Community Relations, will be coming to town later this month.
Breanne Feigel, CPR spokesperson, told the Observer Thursday that Poznikoff will be meeting with council.
Carl Bannister, the city's chief administrative officer, confirmed that a meeting has been set for 26 Jun 2007.
"I'm not sure if it's going to be a council meeting or a committee meeting but it will be to talk about the underpass and siding
extension," Bannister said.
In March, city council unanimously supported a motion from Coun. Alan Harrison requesting that "the CPR extend double tracking so
that trains will not have to stop in Salmon Arm."
In providing background regarding the motion, Harrison said that, on average, about 30 trains pass through Salmon Arm every 24 hours.
Twenty-five of those trains block the Narcisse and Marine Park accesses for four-and-a-half to five minutes.
Five of them, which meet trains travelling in the opposite direction, stop on average for just over 10 minutes.
He said while the five-minute stops are annoying, it's the longer ones that lead to traffic stacking up and to the
temptation for pedestrians to squeeze between rail cars.
He said the city's financial position will allow construction of an alternate access to the waterfront, at the earliest, in 2015. He
noted that his intent with the motion was to get together with CPR to let them know this is a serious problem and together they can
solve it.
Harrison had also noted that although double-tracking had been brought up in the past, it had never been the subject of a
council motion.
Resident John Henderson recently wrote to Poznikoff, requesting a response to council's request.
"What do we need to do to get CPR to respond to our council? Do we need to demonstrate on the tracks to get your attention?"
he wrote.
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