Some Quayside residents are tired of the trains.
Maureen Albanese says the rail yards have been a constant issue in the 18 years she’s lived on Quayside Drive. Noise from idling trains were a nuisance in the past, but over the last two months, the noise has become a problem again.
In June, Albanese says she heard trains idling around midnight for over an hour.
“It sat with the engine running, which makes it rumble, and it also hisses because it's an air release of some sort,” she told the Record. “It will rumble, rumble, rumble, and then a big hiss, and rumble, rumble, rumble, hiss.
“They can turn the engines off. They’re wasting fuel. They’re actually polluting.”
In June, Quayside resident Maureen Albanese captured this video from her balcony of a train running around midnight.
Mike Hoyer, who lives on the other side of the Quayside community, also says the noise has been been a constant problem in the 14 years he’s lived there. The situation improved in 2008 after the City of New Westminster intervened and began working with the rail companies to reduce noise.
But emissions from the idling trains are still a problem.
“The last year they’ve been a regular feature right under our nose here, every day,” he told the Record. “Leaving an engine idling for an hour and a half every night, producing noxious gases, we don’t really need.”
Hoyer says he regularly smells diesel fumes from the trains idling next to his building when he lays in his bed at night. At times he’s even found his balcony covered in soot. He’s worried about what breathing in the train exhaust may do to his health.
Hoyer says he would like to see the city intervene again, and work with the railways to stop the trains from releasing potentially harmful gases into his and his neighbours homes.
Lived on the 11th floor of 1185 Quayside in a unit facing the yard for about a year. Had the shunting wake us up a few times. Especially in summer. They should do their best to mitigate noise but some of it is just the reality of living next to an active rail yard.
— Mike Folka (@mikefolka) July 28, 2018
Over the past 10 years, the Quayside Community Board and the City of New Westminster have successfully lobbied the rail companies to reduce noise from the rail yards. But residents want to know if anything can be done to further lower the noise levels and emissions.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said he was aware of the concerns and has reached out to CN Rail.
“It comes up a lot, especially in the summertime. People have their windows open, and the trains, sometimes they’re waiting excessively long for clearance to go over the train bridge and clearance from the marine traffic. It’s an issue,” he told the Record.
Puchmayr said he is putting the issue on the agenda for the next Railway Community Advisory Panel meeting in September when the City meets with the four railways that operate in the New West.
CN spokesperson Kate Fenske told the Record in an email that railways will continue to operate overnight.
“The New West Yard is an active rail yard. Several railways operate in the area so there will always be some noise. CN does work to mitigate noise and vibration associated with railway operations, and encourages municipalities to adopt the proximity guidelines,” she wrote.
On fuel emissions, she said that CN crews are trained to conserve fuel and reduce carbon footprints, but locomotives may be left idling because of operating requirements like weather and maintaining air pressure. Some engines also use SmartStart technology to automatically start and stop the engines.
“The yard in New Westminster is a Smart Yard and we also try to reduce noise at night by only switching of cars when necessary," she wrote.
In 2008, the Quayside Community Board asked that train operations be restricted to the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. They sent letters to the four companies and the city, and asked they consider limiting shunting — joining and separating cars — to the daytime hours.
A Trapp Road resident told the Record in 2008 that the noise regularly exceeded 94 decibels. WorkSafe B.C. has said nightclubs average 93 decibels.
- With files from Christopher Sun
