Noisy trains

Re: “Doors open on west LRT,” Dec. 10.

I’m proud that we have added another leg to our LRT jewelry box. It is indeed very shiny like a bright new toy, but that leaves old toys lying around.

On Sept. 7, 1987, the northwest leg opened to much fanfare, which at the time, hid a dark secret — downtown residents would be exposed to metallic shrieking and squealing sounds that for six months a year (winter) are relentless. As the northwest LRT leaves downtown at 7th Avenue and 9th Street S.W., it has to negotiate a sharp turn that slows the train to a crawl, but also creates a high-pitched sound that is truly apartment-piercing.

After two years of monotonous sidewalk repair and LRT construction, I think it’s time the city finally noticed that 25 years ago, they created a slow-moving, noise-inducing mess, and now because of a lack of space, what can they do? We residents are left with a battered raggedy old train set that no one wants to play with anymore.

Jack Burmeister, Calgary