CN, CP SHOULD SHARE TRACKS

Re: Study offers $5.3M solution to ‘Dougall Death Trap’, by Doug Schmidt, July 19.

As a former railway lawyer, I see a solution to Windsor’s railway problems: rationalize rail service with CN and CP sharing trackage. A longerterm solution is to move their yards out of the city, as other municipalities have done.

The rationalization would involve CN and CP sharing the CP line into the city, which has grade separations at the major arteries of Ouellette and Howard avenues and Walker Road. The CN line problem crossings at Dougall and Howard avenues and Cabana Road would be eliminated.

The CN and CP yards do have interconnections for inter-switching and for access to the important Detroit-Windsor railway tunnel.

The sharing should not be a major inconvenience — when the Sarnia rail tunnel was built in 1995, CP’s Toronto-Chicago traffic ran on CN tracks. Lost main-line service to Windsor might return if the tunnel was improved or a new one built. The tunnel is as important to the economic health of Windsor as the new bridge.

CN and CP are federally regulated and there is federal legislation in place: the Canada Transportation Act, Part III; the Railway Relocation and Crossing Act; and the Railway Interswitching Regulations. The process starts with an application to the Canadian Transportation Agency.

TERRY HALL, Amherstburg