Train-sensor system still on track

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This article was published 09/01/2025 (309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is one step closer to a sensor program that would warn drivers if a train is blocking traffic.

A grant of more than $417,000 from Transport Canada and $80,000 from developer Olexa Developments will go toward a five-year project that will install sensors at the city’s 200-plus railways.

Alerts notifying drivers when a train blocks traffic and suggesting alternate routes will be sent out to drivers via Waze and to emergency responders.

After five years, the city will decide whether or not to continue the plan, with an estimated cost of $32,000 a year.

The technology, developed by Winnipeg-based company TRAINFO, is already in place at 19 crossings after a 2020 study on their effectiveness. That study found that if the system had been fully operational, first responders would have had 71 per cent fewer delays at rail crossings.

The expansion is being considered now because an incoming residential and commercial development where up to 2,000 housing units will be built at the site of the former Canada Packers and Union Stock Yards is surrounded by rail lines on both east and west sides, which fully blocks access to emergency vehicles when trains pass through.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chair of the public works committee, said she was happy to hear that CN rail had opted into the program.

“They’ve got so many rail lines, so many crossings, to even be able to communicate with a rail line is really difficult,” she said. “It’s so good to hear that they’re embracing it, they think it’s positive.”

The program will still have to be heard by the executive policy committee and city council for approval.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca