By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
The town of Bromont has taken another step toward restricting the whistling of trains on its territory, but one expert helping the municipality navigate the process told the BCN that it may be another year or more before the whistles stop.
“We hope we’ll get there,” Bromont Mayor Louis Villeneuve said at the May 6 council meeting. “It can’t happen overnight. There are more and more trains passing so we are hoping to get ahead of this. We’re about to send humans to Mars, so I’m sure we can get improved signaling systems. This is a long project but I’m hoping we’ll get there eventually.
There are seven railroad crossings on the territory of the town of Bromont. In July 2023, councillors passed a resolution asking Canadian Pacific, the owner of the tracks that cross the city, to restrict the use of whistles. At the May 6 meeting, councillors passed two resolutions asking the Quebec Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTQ) to approve their request to stop the whistles.
Donald O’Hara, co-ordinator of the Alliance du corridor ferroviaire Estrie-Montérégie (ACFEM), has been mandated by the city to navigate the whistling cessation approval process. Once council and MTQ approval is granted, the municipality has to work with CP to develop and implement alternative strategies to get pedestrians, animals and cars off the tracks without using the whistle, and implement them at each of Bromont’s seven crossings, he explained. These strategies can include improved safety gates, fencing, strobe lights and other sound signals. Transport Canada must then review the safety plan co-developed by the company and the municipality. Whistling can only stop once Transport Canada gives its final approval. Even then, train drivers can still use the whistle if they believe it’s necessary to clear people or animals from the tracks.
“The whistle is an important safety feature and it’s there for a reason. The process is long and expensive, and involves not just negotiations, but the physical process of putting up gates and signage, and that takes time and money,” O’Hara said, pointing out that a single safety gate can cost several hundred thousand dollars. “The cost is shared between the municipality and the railway company, and there are grants available, but it takes the time and money that it takes. It is taxpayer money and councillors have to consider that.”
O’Hara estimated that Bromont was still “a year, a year and a half away” from getting a whistle ban implemented. In Sherbrooke, which is also working toward a ban, he expected the process to take several years, because plans needed to be put in place for each of the city’s 46 crossings.
Only one municipality in the region has successfully banned train whistles on its territory, according to O’Hara. That was Coaticook, more than 20 years ago. Along with Bromont, Magog and Sherbrooke are also working toward whistle bans. “Different municipalities have different approaches – in Lac-Mégantic, people want to hear the whistle, because it means someone is driving the train. In some other municipalities, it’s a nuisance. It’s definitely not the greatest thing when it wakes you up at night.”
No one from the City of Bromont was available to comment further at press time.