Teamsters Canada Rail Conference

CAMBRIDGE – There’s nothing unusual about taking eight minutes to get a train out of the way of an ambulance carrying a critically hurt toddler, says a Canadian Pacific Railway official.

The two-year-old boy remained in critical condition Tuesday in a Hamilton hospital. Rescuers pulled the unconscious toddler from the family pool at a Concession Road house Saturday morning.

After paramedics revived him, the ambulance headed to Cambridge Memorial Hospital. It was stopped by a train shunting cars back-and-forth on the tracks across Concession, at Coronation Boulevard.

Waterloo Regional Police and ambulance dispatchers called railway police to get the lumbering train out of the way. The same train was also blocking Hespeler Road, the only other practical route to hospital.

The message got quickly to the crew, said Jeff Johnson, Canadian Pacific spokesperson. The crew had already noticed the ambulance and was working to move the long train out of the way, he said.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all to be blocked for eight minutes,” Johnson said. “That’s a reasonable time for a crew to get out and clear the crossing.”

The ambulance driver shouldn’t have sat there quietly, Johnson said.

“They would have noticed them much sooner if they had their sirens on. They just had their lights on.”

It’s time for Canadian Pacific to accept their trains are causing headaches for paramedics, said John Prno, director of Waterloo Region Emergency Medical Services. Upwards of 30 trains a day rumble through Cambridge, most of them carrying cars produced at the Toyota factory.

“We live in community that is criss-crossed by rail crossings. You’d expect the odd time you’re going to get stuck at a crossing,” Prno said.

“I can’t remember an eight-minute delay — ever.”

For 20 years, he’s been part of fruitless talks with the railway to find a solution. “I don’t like to take all the onus on us. I think CP has to take responsibility, too.”

Prno suggests strobe lights at major railway crossings, to warn train crews an ambulance needs to cross. Or maybe cameras can be installed at busy crossings, to give dispatchers advance notice of trains in the way.

Prno doesn’t blame the train crews; they get out of the way when they see an ambulance. But the trains are long and crews don’t always know they’re blocking a medical emergency.

In the past, Canadian Pacific has rejected offers of cellphones or ambulance radios to tell train crews they’ve stopped a train, Prno said.

It’s against railway regulations to put other electronic devices in train cabs, Johnson said. He has no knowledge of past discussions about Cambridge railway crossing issues, but welcomed future talks.

“I think it represents an opportunity for the railway and the community as a whole — especially emergency services — to get to know each other and know each other’s needs and to open up that dialogue,” Johnson said.

Waterloo Regional Police detectives checked into the train delay as part of the investigation into the near drowning. Insp. Daryl Goetz, deputy commander of the Cambridge detachment, is satisfied there was no breakdown in communications with the railway.

Cambridge firefighters have learned to live with train delays, said Deputy Chief Bill Chesney. As soon as they suspect a train is blocking the way, they call for other trucks to respond from stations on the other side of the tracks.

Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig blames the railway for delaying for years the obvious solution to train gridlock: a bridge over the tracks over Hespeler Road north of The Delta intersection. Construction of the two-year, $25-million project is now set to start late this year.

What’s needed is an agreement with the railway to deal with today’s problem, Craig said.

Prno says the Delta bridge won’t solve all of the problems in Cambridge. Nor will it do anything about trains cutting Baden, Ayr and Kitchener in half.

“Even when the Delta is done, we’re still going to have more level crossings to worry about,” Prno said.