December 17: Saturday morning. As the sun is still rising over the mountains that surround our town and the caps of said mountains are aglow in pink, the motorists and pedestrians entering or leaving Squamish are held hostage by CN Rail… for more than 30 minutes!
Residents and tourists alike are lined up on all sides of the Cleveland/Buckley rail tracks for more than 30 minutes while a CN Rail train of railcars dances forward and backward with stationary pauses in between.
I arrived off Highway 99 at 8:19 a.m. to a line of traffic already waiting. The train at this point was stationary with approximately 15 railcars heading in the southern direction (left of Cleveland when facing downtown) and seemingly infinite railcars to the north.
This train did not move until 8:23 a.m., when it started to crawl southbound until 8:26 a.m. and then it stopped stationary once more.
From 8:27 to 8:36 a.m. we waited with the train completely immobile.
Motorists frustrated and impatient started taking risks on the road, pushing their way through gaps in the line of traffic to make illegal turns at the Cleveland-Buckley intersection or to make U-turns.
At 8:37 a.m. the train began going in reverse, heading once more northbound to its starting place.
Ten minutes later, the engine appeared and passed the intersection at 8:47 a.m., an energetic cheer rising from each and every motorist stranded and held unmovable for over 30 minutes.
The rail boom gates at Cleveland and Buckley rose at 8:48 a.m.
The train was already there when I arrived at 8:19 a.m.. We did not start moving (safely, legally) until 8:48 a.m. I sat for 29 minutes and I feel it is safe to say that those in front of me waited over 30 minutes to get through.
This is not a one-off incident. On Dec. 3, on my way out of the downtown centre at approximately 10 a.m., I was held up by a train doing its forward/backward/stationary dance for over 25 minutes.
How is this allowed?
With the amount of development happening in the downtown area, I wonder who is informing our new residents that they will be held hostage by the rail tracks that slice off the downtown area from any and all freedom.
Makes me wonder, what if there had been an emergency downtown? What if emergency crews like ambulance or fire needed to get through? What if that 30 minute wait for CN Rail to complete its shunting, meant life or death for a Squamish taxpayer or valued tourist?
Who would be responsible for that death or potential destruction of property (fire)? CN Rail? The District?
Should there be an “enter at your own risk” agreement that each resident/visitor sign before entering the downtown core?
Ali Jayne, Squamish resident living in the downtown core.
