Delay GO train upgrade over horns, Markham residents urge

YorkRegion.com
Oct. 1, 2015
Amanda Persico

Markham once again conveyed its intention to cease whistle blasting along the Stouffville GO Train line that cuts across the city.

Residents crowded council chambers wearing white ‘Stop the Horn’ T-shirts during this week’s council meeting.

“Residents will enjoy a quality of life as a result of silencing the horns,” said Shanta Sundarason, chairperson and co-founder of nohorn.ca.

Nohorn.ca is a resident group dedicated to fighting the train horn blasts at rail crossings in Markham.

Last week, the group presented a petition to Markham’s development services committee with more than 2,200 signatures calling on the city to enact an anti-whistle bylaw prior to all-day GO Train services set to start in 2017.

“We urge you to move expeditiously,” Sundarason said as she played a recording of the horn blast during her deputation.

With the growing number of trains along the Stouffville GO line, the automatic four blasts of the horn at each of the 17 at-grade rail crossings in the city are becoming more and more of a nuisance, resulting in sleep deprivation, anxiety and a lessoned quality of life for those residents living in close proximity to the tracks, residents say.  

“This morning while shaving I heard 15 horn blasts just to help me get up in the morning,” resident Robert Vallee said.

“Train operators are either bullies or substance abusers or both. Let’s draw a line in the sand here and stifle the horns, please.”

In a recorded vote, council voted to urge Metrolinx to implement whistle cessation measures prior to all-day train service.

Residents also expressed disappointment over this weekend’s Nuit Blanche – the annual all-night contemporary art festival in Toronto.

During the festival, GO is offering extra homebound trains returning in the early hours Oct. 4.

The nohorn group is currently working with Markham-Unionville MPP Michael Chan to get GO to swap buses for trains along the Stouffville GO Train route.

Other GO routes will be serviced with buses during the early hours.

“At 3:30 a.m. an estimated 30,000 residents will be tormented by the horns blasting through Markham,” she said. “30,000 residents will be jolted from their sleep as horns go off at 17 crossings in Markham.”

Several councillors wanted to see a more strongly worded resolution.

Residents of the nohorn.ca group agreed.

“That is what we want, a delay of implementation (of all-day train service),” Sundarason said. “We always said we wanted the trains. What we don’t want are the horns.”

But Mayor Frank Scarpitti, who expressed support for the residents, argued that would go against years of resolutions calling for more GO train service through Markham.

“We need to put feet to fire,” he said. “I will not give the province reason to stop implementation of all-day GO service.”