EDMONTON – The owner of an east Edmonton ski hill says trains stopping on the tracks that pass through the park have become a major safety concern for him and his customers.
“Just recently there’s been a lot of issues with trains not just moving, of course, but stopping. And stopping for long periods of time,” said Sunridge Ski Area owner Ian Bakker. “As it’s the only access route we have for our customers, it really impacts our customers coming and going.”
Bakker, who has worked at the resort for 25 years, says the halted trains have increasingly become an issue over the past five years.
“The longest that I can recall is three hours… sometimes it’s 45 minutes,” he said. “Sometimes there’s train breakdowns, which we can understand, but often it’s they’re just stopping, waiting, crew changes.”
Bakker says it’s proving difficult to work around, because there’s “no rhyme or reason” to the train schedule.
“I’ve been here for 25 years and I have no idea what their schedule is. I can’t predict it.”
Not only is the issue an inconvenience for skiers trying to drive to the hill, Bakker says it’s become a significant safety concern, as well.
“People park on the other side and parents sometimes send their kids across the train. And that’s the main concern that we have, is that we don’t want anybody crossing over the train tracks to get here,” he said.
“If there is an injury we have no way to get emergency services in here.”
“That would be a concern for me, for sure, if there was an emergency and there was a big, long train and nobody could get access. That’s huge,” added Gary Harris, who was skiing at Sunridge Sunday morning.
Bakker has regularly been in contact with CN Rail and says the company is aware of the issue.
CN Rail issued the following statement to Global News:
“We are aware that, from time to time, there are occasions when the crossing will be blocked and we are working with Sunridge to address their concerns. CN makes every effort to minimize the effect of our operation on road traffic,” Emily Hamer, regional manager of CN Public and Government Affairs said in an emailed statement.
In the meantime, Sunridge staff have posted signs in their chalet to warn skiers of the danger and encourage them to contact their MLA about the issue.
Sunridge does have a secondary access, but it also crosses the same tracks, “and usually if one access is blocked, the other one is as well,” Bakker added.
With files from Shannon Greer, Global News.
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