Concerns stuck trains putting Niagara Falls residents in danger

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Traffic in Niagara Falls ground to a halt this weekend after a CN freight train broke down, blocking the roads & effectively cutting the city in half. This is the second time in a week this has happened, and as Lauran Sabourin reports, the city’s mayor is screaming that this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Last year alone, half a dozen times CN freight trains blocked main roads in Niagara Falls for hours. And just within the past week, there were two broken down trains.

Suzanne Meginnis was held up by one. “I was on Montrose Rd, and we were stuck for a long time, and I finally turned around but I went all the way around back to Thorold Stone and down the highway.”

On Sunday, Thorold Stone, Morrison, Drummond and Dorchester were all blocked because of a stuck train. As deputy fire chief Phil Ross puts it, “you can’t even go to another place to get past it because it’s so long. It cuts the city in half.”

“It ties up the whole city when that happens here.”

The CN line runs across a dozen major roads in the city. A blocked road is a nightmare for emergency services. “(It) would require us to change our route to go through River Rd where there isn’t a railway crossing, or take the highway. Doing that would add significant time to get to a scene.”

Two minutes can mean the difference between life and death at a fire.

Mayor Jim Diodati is livid. He says by using CP track, CN can detour around Niagara Falls. “We’re at the point now, if we don’t get satisfaction with management, we’re ready to go to the shareholders and let them know about the pending liability we’re dealing with.”

CN told us detouring isn’t something it would consider – Jim Feeny says at times rail crossings will be blocked – it’s an inconvenience – “but the safety and integrity of our operations, and our ability to serve our customers’
transportation needs are prime mandates.”

CN says there is another option: building bridges over the rail crossings. The cost wouldn’t be covered by CN though – it would be picked up primarily by local taxpayers.

“We don’t accept that answer. They’re not willing to? Then what do we have to do to make you willing?”