Sleepless nights continue for CityPlace: GO noise continues

By Kimberly Spice –

CityPlace residents fed up with the constant construction of the rail lines running through their back yard lashed out at Metrolinx officials at the March 3 residents association meeting.

Updating the corridor between Bathurst and Spadina is causing sleepless nights for many of the residents whose condos overlook the tracks in the Union Station rail corridor.

“I’m going to try and not get emotional,” started out one woman, stating that the noise from equipment and the intense lighting used during the night is keeping her awake.

“Instead of going out at night while on vacation I spent the time in my quiet hotel room to sleep. I had to get medications to sleep at night in my own condo building.”

Construction for the retaining wall, installation of piles and tie-back operations have a completion date of September 2011—but this revelation provided no comfort to approximately 30 neighbours in attendance since another project is set to begin immediately after.

“Following the construction of the retaining wall, the next step will be the laying of the track,” said Ian McConachie, media relations and issues specialist for Metrolinx and GO Transit, via e-mail to The Bulletin. “At this time, a completed schedule for this work is being developed and we expect some more construction work to follow the completion of the retaining wall.  We expect that this work will also be performed during non-service hours (when GO service is not operational) as the work cannot impact passenger and freight rail traffic along the Union Station rail corridor.”

Metrolinx’ representatives acknowledged and sympathized with residents but because of Ministry of Labour laws they cannot reduce the noise that generates the most complaints—the beeping of equipment while backing up.

Mike Wolczyk, director of Union Station Infrastructure for GO Transit, told the frustrated audience that noise quality studies are performed on a nightly basis and show that noise levels are not notably different than during the day. He added that they work hard to try and keep noise under control.

Tom Aylward-Nally, stakeholder relations coordinator at Metrolinx, believes that an ongoing dialog helps when facing neighbours’ frustrations.

“I thought [the meeting] went really well,” Aylward-Nally stated. “We knew coming in that there had been concerns and I think it’s important that people felt like they get a chance to have a two-way communication on this. These teething pains occur and we have to become responsive and we have to make sure that people feel that they are a part of the process.”

Details about the Union Station rail corridor project can be found at www.gotransit.com. For more information, contact Stacey Kenney at stacey.kenny@gotransit.com.