Weyburn city council will be discussing the Queen Street crossing of the CP Rail line next to Highway 39, after another close call occurred at the crossing on June 12, this time involving an 86-year-old woman whose car was clipped by a freight train.
The rail crossing has been flagged before as a concern, as a report by consultants to the City of Weyburn last year recommended closing this crossing based on safety concerns.
“We’re going to bring it up at the council meeting and we’ll be making a decision on how we’ll proceed,” said Mayor Marcel Roy, noting the next council meeting will be on Monday, June 26.
“Right now we’re looking at all the possibilities and see what we can provide for options and take it from there,” he added. “There’s no clear path right now, but we’ll discuss that at the next council meeting.”
“CP has requested the city close the crossing at this location due to safety concerns, but has been unsuccessful,” said CP Rail spokesperson Salem Woodrow.
“The safe operations of our trains through the communities in which we operate is a priority for Canadian Pacific. Crossing safety is a key aspect of this commitment. CP supports the objective to improve railway crossing safety and is committed to working with road authorities and crossing users to ensure compliance with the new Grade Crossing Regulations and Standards,” said Woodrow. “The root problem of crossing safety in Canada is there are too many grade crossings. The safest grade crossing is no grade crossing at all.”
City council had received a report at their meeting on Nov. 28 on all eight CP Rail crossings within city boundaries, and for the other seven crossings, minor upgrades are required, mostly involving the signage at the crossings. The Queen Street crossing was the sole exception, as it is ranked 65th in Canada as one of the worst of the 21,115 crossings across Canada that are rated for risk by Transport Canada.
At the time, councillors had expressed concerns about the recommendation to close this crossing due to the proximity of businesses to that crossing, and due to flow of truck traffic. Closing the crossing would reroute trucks to the intersection of Highways 13 and 39, deemed as one of the worst intersections in the province for safety.
According to city records, there have been six accidents at this crossing since 1988, five of them occurring between April 2010 and October 2014, along with numerous unreported near misses. There had been a close incident last September, and then the collision with the rear of a car on June 12. From the accidents, there was one injury and no deaths. CP Rail indicates there are 16 freight trains daily on the Soo Line.
