14 September 2007
Riled-Up Mayor Rails Against Track Twinning
Chase British Columbia - Canadian Pacific Rail's secretive
plans to double its line through the village of Chase threatens community safety and serenity, Mayor Harry Danyluk said Tuesday.
Representatives from CP Rail met recently with the village council, asking for an in-camera session to discuss plans to
twin its tracks through Chase.
But Danyluk said he's not going to remain silent on a threat to his community.
"For years we were assured there was no plan to double the track," Danyluk said.
"We wrote them as recently as two months ago... Now we're told they're going to double the tracks through town. It's a major
concern."
A representative from CP Rail declined to answer questions on the corporation's plans.
Danyluk said he will ask council to write letters of concern to federal and provincial ministries, acknowledging the community has
little power itself to stop the corporation.
He is also concerned CP officials said train length will double, to nearly two miles, along the section.
If a long train is stopped in the community it cuts Chase in two, preventing ambulance and fire personnel from accessing the northern
half of the village.
"They'd have to wait the train out. It splits the community in half."
Building an overpass so traffic can cross is not within Chase's financial ability, Danyluk said. There is also little space for
overpass development because the rail line is packed tight with housing.
A section of twin-track stops on the village's western side. Danyluk said the extension will add another 3.2 kilometres of
twin track eastward to Mattey's Mountain.
Noise from CP trains whistling as they rumble through Chase in the middle of the day are already an irritant in the community, Danyluk
said. Based on a recent incident he worries the twinning will make it far worse.
Danyluk said a train stopped recently in the village during the middle of the night. When it resumed travel eastward, a chain of
telltale booming noises pierced the night as the cars were yanked forward, made worse by echo from the mountain that towers over Chase.
"I heard this booming noise seven or eight times. It's the whiplash effect and it rippled through the
community."
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