The risk profile is absurd because they suggest a derailment could lead to a 9/11 style catastrophe. That's just...? Nonsense. You'd almost need to literally drive a freight train full of explosively reactive chemicals right into the buildings to bring them down.
Not sure how many people here are also train foamers like I am, but there's places in the US (and elsewhere) where they regularly run freight trains underneath tall buildings within urban areas. There's also countless street running trains in smaller towns that literally run huge trains full of things like intermodal units, hazardous chemicals to coal down the middle of city streets, next to homes and businesses that shut down roads on a regular basis (like this: https://youtu.be/x9StLsUtDkw) and serious disasters are extremely rare. Hell, GEXR runs trains down from Elmira full of chemical cars that go right next to offices, the university, student apartments, condos and uptown Waterloo so they can link up with CN trains.
If it's a noise issue, there are ways to mitigate that although the way railways work, they'd likely rather block a development than eat the cost of mitigation.
The fact they are also objecting to The Metz which is beside a nearly abandoned branch/spur line makes me think they're just bring difficult for their own long term or financial goals. It can't solely be a liability issue because they have tracks running through our own residential neighbourhoods and hundreds more across the country.
I'll be curious to see how this plays out. I would hope our regional/city governments are wise enough to tell them it's BS, unless there's some federal strings they can pull since railways are a federal thing but I kind of doubt they could.
Not sure how many people here are also train foamers like I am, but there's places in the US (and elsewhere) where they regularly run freight trains underneath tall buildings within urban areas. There's also countless street running trains in smaller towns that literally run huge trains full of things like intermodal units, hazardous chemicals to coal down the middle of city streets, next to homes and businesses that shut down roads on a regular basis (like this: https://youtu.be/x9StLsUtDkw) and serious disasters are extremely rare. Hell, GEXR runs trains down from Elmira full of chemical cars that go right next to offices, the university, student apartments, condos and uptown Waterloo so they can link up with CN trains.
If it's a noise issue, there are ways to mitigate that although the way railways work, they'd likely rather block a development than eat the cost of mitigation.
The fact they are also objecting to The Metz which is beside a nearly abandoned branch/spur line makes me think they're just bring difficult for their own long term or financial goals. It can't solely be a liability issue because they have tracks running through our own residential neighbourhoods and hundreds more across the country.
I'll be curious to see how this plays out. I would hope our regional/city governments are wise enough to tell them it's BS, unless there's some federal strings they can pull since railways are a federal thing but I kind of doubt they could.