Councillor wants to silence looming train whistle blasts for north Saskatoon residents

Ninety-six-decibel train whistle blasts could soon be disturbing residents of neighbourhoods in north Saskatoon in an ironic twist to the solution for a longstanding safety concern.

A special Saskatoon city council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to consider a request to stop the whistles from CN Rail trains at Saskatoon’s first pedestrian/cyclist railway crossing, which is expected to be completed this week.

The crossing was built to address illegal traversing of the railway tracks as seen in well-worn dirt paths leading to the tracks that run parallel to Warman Road.

Coun. Randy Donauer, who represents the nearby neighbourhoods of River Heights and Richmond Heights, said Monday he wants to delay the opening of the crossing, despite the long time it took to get it installed.