Lakeshore rail crossing ranked among riskiest in Canada

A railroad crossing in Lakeshore wasdeemed to be one of the highest-risk crossings in the country according tofederal data obtained by CBC News.

• List of 500 'highest risk' railway crossings in Canada not widely shared

Transport Canadagenerated a ranking of crossings based on risk factors in 2014based in part on a computer modeling system that assesses risk levels at rail crossings in Canada.

Out of 500 riskiest locations identified at the time of the assessment, the crossing on County Road 22 was ranked 19th overall when comparingrisk factors.The same site ranks ninth in Ontario, where 222 of the higher-risk sites werefound at the time.

I've lived in the area all my life and I've never seen an accident at this railroad- Tom Bain, Lakeshore Mayor

EssexCounty engineer TomBatemanis baffled by the ranking, sayingsightlinesat the crossing are quite good.

"This came as a bit of a surprise to us," he said. "Certainly that crossing isn't on what I would term our radar screen. It certainly doesn't stand out in terms of having a history of conditions that would warrant that high of a ranking."

The data behind the list

The list was generated in 2014 by Transport Canada in part by a risk assessment computer model called GradeX, that was developed for the department by the University of Waterloo to assist with targetting improvements to higher-risk crossings. The GradeX system is only made available internally to Transport Canada staff.

In order to assess risk factors, the model evaluatefactors such as volume or road rail traffic, train speeds, number of tracks and warning devices present.The federal agency explained that changes made to crossings or other new variablesafter 2014are not reflected in the ranking, and that a reassessment today would not necessarily yield the same results.

Officials did not accept interview requests Tuesday, but they further explained their ranking system in a written statement.

"Risk factors do not necessarily mean a crossing is unsafe," according to the statement sent out by the media relations department. "When you compare two different crossings against these risk factors you may deem one crossing to be higher risk than the other. These characteristics are not compliance related, that is to say a crossing that is deemed as a higher risk is not unsafe."

No accidents

Lakeshore Mayor TomBain does not understand the poor ranking of the crossing on County Road 22. He lives nearby and crosses the tracks daily.

"I've lived in the area all my life and I've never seen an accident at this railroad," he said. "It's a crossing where the sightline is quite good."

Invasivephragmitein the area can occasionally grow quite high along the shoulders of the road, butBain said the municipality is regularly pushing to ensure the track owner keeps up with grooming.

"We're constantly after the railroad to cut those," he said.

Bain and other residents in the area do not recall ever seeing an accident at this section of the tracks. Information from Transport Canada confirmed there has not been a collision at the crossing between 2000 and Dec. 15, 2015.

Speeding motorists

Several residents living in the areaexpressed concerns about speeding drivers along the county road, some of whom are often seen trying to race pastthe tracks when a train is coming and safety signals are flashing.

ConniePeddenand her family live metres from the tracks. Though surprised by the ranking, given she has never seen an accident there,Peddenregularly witnesses driversbarrelingdown the road well above the posted speed limit of 80 km/h.

"They're fast. They definitely are fast," she said. "They do try and beat the train. You can see, if they do get stopped [behind the train], they're frustrated and then they're whizzing by the house."

Ray Tellier questions the ranking as well, but he too has seen drivers speed up when a train is approaching.

"I've seen that happen," the former school bus driver said. "You can get a train, maybe a quarter of a mile away, and they'll go across," he said.