Loudest. Interview. Ever.
That was my feeling after recently calling Coun. Chuck Puchmayr to get an update on the Santa Claus Parade. It turned out my call coincided with a trip he was taking from the Quay to Queensborough on a Southern Railway train with Mayor Wayne Wright and Fire Chief Tim Armstrong.
The trio was on a fact-finding mission of sorts.
“We wanted to look at the Southern Rail infrastructure, see how it interfaces with the community, see where we can do quick fixes with whistle cessation, and where our challenges are,” Puchmayr told me as he rode the rails.
Throughout our interview the train whistle sounded. Over and over and over again.
En route to Queensborough, the trio got a firsthand account of the number of whistles required to be sounded – and the federal regulations that make whistles necessary.
“It is unbelievable how many crossings there are,” Puchmayr told me later, during a much quieter telephone interview.
Puchmayr said train engineers are required to abide by the requirements of the Railways Safety Act. While experienced engineers may choose to sound the horns as little as possible, he said newer engineers are often more likely to adhere to the regulations for fear of losing their licenses if they’re not abiding by regulations.
In some cases, trains are able to “give it a little toot”, but in other cases a full horn is activated, Puchmayr said.
“Southern is interested in looking at accelerating their whistle cessation program,” he said. “We (the city) could do whistle cessation on all Southern track, but it would be millions of dollars.”
According to Puchmayr, there has been a reduction in train whistles along tracks at the Quay in recent months.
“People are telling me it is a lot better now, they are noticing the difference,” he said. “We still have the issue with the major crossings, Quayside and Begbie.”
Wright said the train trip gave city officials a better understanding of the railway’s operations and places where the city can try to make changes so fewer whistles are required. He’s hopeful the city may have some opportunities to reduce the number of whistles in Queensborough, as Southern is the only railway in that neighbourhood.
“We only have to deal with them and nobody else,” he said.
While the whistles were going almost nonstop as the city officials traveled by train through Queensborough, Wright said they were all required by law.
“They did everything that was supposed to be done. That is what the problem is,” he said. “In order for them not to do it, breaks the law and makes them liable. They have to be so careful about what they are doing.”
Not all whistles are alike, noted Wright.
“Some of them are already programmed,” he said. “They press the button and it does the things. Some of the trains, the fella actually physically does it.”
