20 October 2008
Solution Proposed to Slow Train Woes on Hespeler Road
Cambridge Ontario - CP Rail is ready to permanently move
its slow freight trains out of the way on Hespeler Road.
In return, Waterloo Region would scrap plans to build a $25-million bridge over the tracks just north of the Delta
intersection. Construction of that two-year project was set to start next year.
"This is a great deal for the region," said Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig.
The deal is good for two reasons, Craig said. CP Rail agrees to reduce by 75 percent the number of trains crossing the
four-lane highway dailiy and upgrade the tracks to let the trains move faster. The proposed deal also requires CP to
remove most of its noisy shunting operations from Cambridge to a new rail yard now under construction west of Ayr, he said.
Even if the bridge eventually has to be built, removal of some of the tracks means the project will cost taxpayers less, Craig said.
"This is the same proposal that Cambridge made three years ago and then CP rejected it at the last minute."
That deal would have seen taxpayers pay to move the annoying railway operations out of town instead of building a bridge.
"Right off the top we save five or six million dollars," Craig said.
Today, there's upwards of 30 trains crossing Hespeler Road daily. They're limited to 16 km/h and often stop across the tracks for 10
or 20 minutes as the cars are shunted back and forth, or the long trains wait to enter the main CP tracks along Samuelson Street.
Traffic backs up for kilometres.
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