Wheels in motion to silence trains at downtown Dartmouth crossing

DARTMOUTH – Residents living near the King’s Wharf railway crossing in Dartmouth say they’ve had enough of train whistles waking them up in the middle of the night.

The crossing was put in about three years ago during development of the condo buildings. Since then, a whistle has accompanied every trip.

“One night, there were six trains from 11:00 at night through to 5:00 in the morning. And they’re going in both directions,” said local councillor Gloria McCluskey, who adds she is also able to hear the whistle from her house.

McCluskey has received so many complaints from residents of King’s Wharf and the surrounding buildings that she put forward a motion for Tuesday’s city council agenda to request a staff report on banning the whistle at that crossing.

However, the motion may not be necessary.

The federal Railway Safety Act allows municipalities to request whistling exemption at a crossing. Part of that request includes an engineer’s assessment that finds it safe to eliminate the whistle.

King’s Wharf developer Francis Fares has long fought to silence the horns. He says he is looking into paying for the engineers’ report and is waiting for quotes to come in from engineering firms.

“Who would want to live next to a train that’s blowing a whistle at 4 a.m. or at 3 a.m. or anytime?” he said.

Fares points out the crossing already has a safety arm, lights and bells. He calls the whistle “unnecessary.”

“We have no issue if it’s between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. but I think there should be some noise bylaws contradicting someone blowing their horns at 4 a.m. in the morning,” he said. “Quite frankly, it’s quite upsetting. It’s upsetting for the whole downtown core.”

Tim Rissesco from the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission would also like to see the whistle silenced.

A spokesman from CN Rail says these types of requests are not uncommon, and the city has confirmed it has put in a similar request in the past for a rural crossing.