After weighing all the arguments for and against rail trails that have been reported in the media, I decided to Google rail trails for myself. The wealth of information that is posted on the internet regarding this subject has led me to conclude that although incorporating leisure trails adjacent to an active rail corridor is relatively a new phenomenon it is a viable option.

Safety of trail users is the main concern of those people that are opposed to the concept of building a trail way alongside an active rail line. However, the statistics that have been gathered since the inception of the first rail trail doesn’t justify the negative feelings towards the idea of building new trails. Fears that more trail users would be severely injured due to the proximity of moving trains have never been realized.

Opponents of rails-with-trail have said that introducing people to active railroad corridors will reduce the safety of the corridor. Rail trails have been proven to be just as safe as regular trails and they also provide a solution for rail companies and local governments concerned about safety risks posed by those who illegally use the tracks as a shortcut.

Rails-with-trails can be safer than trails next to roads. Even with an active rail line near the trail, the exposure from a track carrying ten to twenty trains per day is much less than a road carrying hundreds of vehicles per day.

I am surprised that the Members of Council had no qualms about putting a bike lane on a busy roadway yet they are divided over the proposal of a rail trail. There is a far greater risk of a vehicle crossing over a painted line and swerving into a bike lane than a slow moving train jumping the track to cross into a rail trail. How do they sleep at night?

In my opinion, nothing is guaranteed to be completely safe 100% of the time. As a parent it is y responsibility to teach our children how to use common sense in order to ensure their own safety.

I thought that Councilor Sylvia Bradley’s arguments were weak regarding the expense of plowing the trail because other than the Spring Brook Trail that is a main walking trail to Westside High school, I don’t know of any trail that has snow removal. That is also the main route for the sidewalk plows to travel from the Operations Centre to the downtown core. To my knowledge the Town’s Insurance Provider due to liability concerns has recommended that no leisure trail be snow plowed.

I agree that even a single fatality or serious injury is to be avoided at all costs but not providing a safer alternative for those people that presently walk along the railway tracks would almost be criminal.

Orangeville has been fortunate that there have been no incidents in the rail corridor with the public but that could be a result of the limited rail traffic.

Will the Town be able to say the same when the sale of he railway is completed, the railway is extended and rail traffic increases?

L. Rankin

Orangeville

––o––

In 2000 Town of Orangeville Council made a decision to purchase the abandoned CPR rail line and start its own railway company.

That Council included two of the four members of the current council that are presently opposed to allowing the construction of a trail adjacent to the rail line.

The decision to start a railway company was, I am sure, not an easy one to make. It involved taking into account potentially significant financial,

I have noticed that other cities have built trails along their rail lines.

And so, I would encourage Orangeville council to move ahead with building such a trail through our town. A proper trail seems especially needed, as school kids are walking the rails daily anyway. I have seen them doing it myself.

Bruce Smith,

Orangeville liability and other risk factors.

Several of these same risk factors are currently at play in relation to the proposed trail adjacent to the rail line those being liability, cost, financing.

At the end of the day the council of 2000 decided it was worth the risks to proceed with establishing a railway company to operate the service.

The Town’s financial contribution was to provide the liability insurance and pay the property taxes which are about $400,000.00 to $500,000.00 per year since the railway began operations. (NOTE: The Highlands Rail Group has been paying the property taxes on the rail lands since it signed the offer to purchase so the burden of that cost has not had to be borne by the Town since that time)

And much to council’s relief I am sure none if any of the fears they harboured with respect to taking on the risks associated with operating a railway have come to pass.

At the end of the day that council decided it was worth the risk to start a railway company because of the benefits that would accrue to the community.

Indeed I applaud council of the day for taking that initiative, and venturing into virtually unchartered waters. It was bold decision that required vision, faith and trust.

While the scope of the proposed trail project may not be as large as that of establishing railway company many of the issues being raised as reason to prohibit the project from proceeding are the same, safety, cost, and economics being the chief ones. Surely the degree of risk associated with each of these factors is considerably less in relation to the proposed trail project in comparison to creating and operating a railway company.

The council of 2000 decided those risks were manageable and that the project was worth the risks in relation to the benefits to the community.

I sincerely hope the council of today can see that these same risk factors related to the proposed trail project are equally and eminently manageable in comparison, that trails are of significant benefit to the community, and that this project is therefore worthy of council support.

Graham Burke

Orangeville