Along the tracks: Idling train caused headaches on north side

Residents living on 1st Ave N can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy a peaceful night of sleep now that a CP Rail train has been moved. For five days, the engine car of the train was idling, rumbling and hissing directly across from Lana Rausch’s front door.

“It’s up and down, and airbrakes going off,” said Rausch. “It’s very difficult to sleep.”

As the train was staged there, a desperate Rausch tried multiple times to get the noise taken care of.

“I phoned the CP Police again and they told me I couldn’t phone them any more because it was an emergency line. I said ‘this is an emergency, I need this out of here’.”

Residents who live along the tracks are used to trains coming and going and occasionally stopping. But even homeowners who have lived there the longest say they’ve never endured a staged engine car for so long.

“This is ridiculous,” said Carol Shafranski, who also lives across the street from the tracks. “I’ve been here since 2003 and not anything this long.”

CP says heavy rail traffic is the reason the train has been staged for so long.

“Although this is not common practice, it may occur from time to time,” said CP spokesperson, Salem Woodrow. “Due to the cold, the engines were required to run.”

At around 5pm Saturday, CP finally moved the train further along the tracks away from the residential area. A relieved Rausch said she is looking forward to a silent night of sleep and hopes the rail company stages their cars elsewhere in the future.

“There’s Save on Foods, Canadian Tire, industrial, commercial…there are no residents there, why can’t they stop it there?”