Coquitlam resident Jennifer Rees and others complained about the noise from trains in a NOW story last month.

29 April 2011

Port Moody Hears About Train Noise

Port Moody British Columbia - Several Port Moody residents are blowing the whistle about loud Canadian Pacific Railway trains travelling past their homes in the middle of the night.
 
Rosemary Small has lived on Samuel Drive with her husband for the past 20 years and was never bothered by trains until recently.
 
"We have never once complained about the train passing in front of our door. We rather liked it. It was rather quaint. And yes, we were told about it when we moved in, that it was going to be a quiet train in the middle of the day," Small told council Tuesday. "Since September, the train now goes in the middle of the night. We have recorded several times where it's... 2:30 in the morning. My husband is right now on medication because if he doesn't hear the train go by at 10 o'clock, he starts sweating and gets nervous."
 
Similarly, Russ Smith has been losing sleep over the issue.
 
"The train has been operating late at night. People have trouble sleeping when they get woken up and they have to stay awake half the night waiting for the train to come back out because they just can't get back to sleep," Smith said. "It's a serious issue."
 
For 40 years, Smith has lived near the tracks and dealt with the train passing by until 9 p.m. Lately, however, the runs have gotten later.
 
"I probably live closer to the tracks than most people do. My bedroom is probably 60 feet from the tracks and when they blow the horn at the intersection, I wake up. That's just my personal issue, but other people have the same thing," Smith said.
 
"The new people that moved into the apartments are woken up by another crossing. There's thousands of people affected."
 
Russ said he would like to see a good neighbour approach, but feels like changes are at a standstill. A local petition is requesting the CPR not operate in the area between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
 
"We phoned the community line, we talked with senior officials and there's nothing happening. We would like to move up the line a little bit too," he said. "If we can't get any results with the staff locally and with the committee, can we ask council and the mayor to make an appeal to senior people at CPR?"
 
Mayor Joe Trasolini said Smith's request would be dealt with at the next council meeting.
 
He added that he, too, is one of the residents disturbed by the train when it goes by in the middle of the night.
 
"It's not just a question of the horn. The whole ground shakes," Trasolini said.
 
"And even if you're hard of hearing and you wear earplugs, the shaking wakes you up."
 
Earlier this month, CP Rail sent an e-mail to The NOW stating that "Canadian Pacific takes the concerns of neighboring residents seriously and tries to work with them to address their concerns."
 
Jennifer McFee.