The Canadian Transportation Agency doesn't have a time frame for dealing with a decision about train noise in the rail yard at Westminster Quay.
The Quayside Community Board is awaiting a decision from the agency that it hopes will resolve longstanding issues regarding nighttime noise and vibration.
In 2008, the agency helped the residents' group reach a mediated settlement with rail companies operating in the yard next to the neighbourhood. The settlement sought to eliminate unreasonable noise and vibrations generated by nighttime rail operations.
"When the decision does come out, it's a decision on the enforcement of the mediated settlement. It's not necessarily a new decision," said Angela Ebsworth, senior communications advisor for the Canadian Transportation Agency. "I can't really speak to the mediated settlement because mediation is confidential."
According to Ebsworth, the agency deals with complaints on a case-by-case basis. She said the agency hasn't put complaints from other jurisdictions on hold while it considers the complaint from the Quayside residents.
"The agency doesn't work that way. There is no such thing as a queue. There are no decisions on hold," she told The Record. "We are dealing with all the decisions, all the complaints as they come in on noise and vibration from across the country. There is nothing on hold."
James Crosty, past president of the Quayside Community Board, told The Record recently that more than 20 communities are waiting for the decision to be rendered.
"We go on a case-by-case basis," Ebsworth said. "This particular one isn't entirely unique in terms of being a precedent in that sense."
Ebsworth had no information about when a decision could be rendered.
