No tampering at malfunctioning rail crossings, Ottawa police say

Ottawa police say they found no evidence of mischief at seven west-end rail crossings, including one that's come under fire from politicians and residents for the number of times it's malfunctioned.

In a news release issued Wednesday afternoon, police said they had received calls about seven level rail crossings but found no evidence of damage or mischief.

Those locations had been listed in an earlier news release as Strandherd Road, Jockvale Road, Greenbank Road, Fallowfield Road, Woodroffe Avenue, the OC Transpo Transitway and Merivale Road.

The rail crossing at Fallowfield Road has malfunctioned multiple times since the start of 2014, drawing criticism from Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Canada's Transport Minister Lisa Raitt and Ottawa West-Nepean MP John Baird.

The crossing at the Transitway is also the site of September's fatal bus-train crash.

Raitt said last week she believed it went beyond technical malfunctions and there was something else behind the continuous issues.

Her remarks came a day after Via Rail announced it would start posting employees to six crossings (not the Merivale Road location) to help if signals malfunctioned, along with requiring all trains to slow down as well.

Just before the Ottawa police news release, Via Rail sent an advisory to media saying they would be doing maintenance, repairs and testing at those six crossings where employees were posted.

The release said the work would take about two weeks and they would try to keep traffic impact to a minimum.