Local politicians decry delays from railway companies to fix train crossings
CN Rail says challenges such as limited construction season, funds, availability of workers delay repairs
Another southwestern Ontario mayor is expressing frustration about the delays in getting railway companies to fix deteriorating train tracks in his municipality.
Strathroy-Caradoc's Mayor Colin Grantham says after months of asking Canadian National (CN) Rail to fix a train crossing on Caradoc Street, an arterial road connecting north and south, the company has indicated it'll do the repairs at the end of August.
However, getting a hold of CN and the Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway to fix this and other crossings in Strathroy has been a time-consuming challenge, Grantham said on CBC Radio's London Morning Monday.
"We have a number of other crossings in rural areas that are worse than this, so we'll get this one fixed, but we need to keep pushing for quicker turnaround on maintenance of tracks," he said.
"There used to be a lot of cooperation with both rail lines, but it's bad [now]. They're very territorial when it comes to the area of the tracks, which I understand, it's a safety and legal issue, and we're willing to cooperate with them, but it is their responsibility."
Grantham was responding to a CBC News story from last week in which St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston spoke out about his city's repeated efforts to schedule repairs with CN to fix a crossing on First Avenue that's been in bad shape for at least six months and has caused hundreds of dollars in damage to some vehicles.
Preston said both municipalities and the railway company are equally responsible for maintaining the tracks, with the city required to keep up roadways surrounding the tracks, while CN maintains everything within the rail line.
But both parties need to be together during the repair so traffic can be managed, he said.
"We have to ask their permission to fix the roadway around their rail lines, and we have to cooperate because it's our road and their tracks, but it often takes forever for them to get back to us," Preston said last week, adding that his staff had sent more than a dozen emails to CN to arrange a repair date.
After the story was published on Friday, St. Thomas residents CBC spoke to shared an email from CN informing them track work should begin this week.
Limited resources delaying repairs, CN says
On Monday, a CN spokesperson said the company maintains regular communication with municipalities and road authorities in its Canadian network of more than 12,000 grade crossings and that resource and seasonal challenges can add to delays in roadwork.
"Both parties face challenges such as a limited construction season, financial constraints, availability of work crews and of the specialized equipment required to complete these projects," Ashley Michnowski wrote in an email, adding that safety is a core value at CN.
"CN regularly inspects grade crossings for rail safety, and this helps prioritize projects during the construction season. In some cases, project delays occur because resources must be redirected to address urgent safety concerns elsewhere on the network."
Strathroy's Grantham said a CP crossing on nearby Christina Road has been in disrepair for two-and-a-half years with no progress, and it's caused safety concerns among residents.
"It's becoming unsafe because people are slowing down and in some cases, they're swerving to miss the worst potholes," he said. "I understand they're under the same pressures we are with aging infrastructure, time and funds, but to me it's become a safety issue."
CP spokesperson Rebecca Stephen said the crossing is scheduled for repairs this fall, and the type of crossing work needs to be coordinated with local road authorities.
That's an issue Thames Centre Coun. Tom Heeman is all too familiar with. In February 2024, his township had been calling on CN to fix a crossing on Shaw Road in Dorchester for about eight months.
Although the tracks were eventually fixed one month later, Heeman said it shouldn't have to take public outcry from politicians and residents to ensure safe infrastructure is in place.
"It forms a pattern of disregard for the communities in which [rail companies] operate in and they're federally regulated, so they're very quick to hide behind that designation, and they don't really answer to local government," said Heeman.
Heeman wants Transport Canada to put some compliance measures in place to ensure rail companies follow through on regular maintenance.
"Unless federal counterparts see it as an issue and that we don't have any ability to place fines or restrictions on them, it's strictly the federal government. So there has to be feedback coming from them to actually put consequences on the operators."
CBC has reached out to Transport Canada and will update this story with a response.
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