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New speed limit won't affect trains passing through Windsor

New government imposed speed limits on trains will have little, if any, affect on trains that rumble through Windsor.

Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said trains carrying dangerous goods through urban areas with a population of 100,000 or more must now stay below 64 km/h.

But trains travelling through Windsor, already move slower than that.

According to a federal media release, both Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways have their own regulations in place. They must travel 56 km/h in all districts.

An Essex Terminal Railway Co. spokesperson said the new rules won't affect its trains. The company's trains already observe a voluntary go-slow order and run at 16 km/h, so the new federally imposed speed limit won't affect operations directly.

The spokesperson said their trains travel slower than the government standard because they run trains in a densely populated area within the city.

What are trains hauling?

Even though train speed was never City Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac's main concern, she said Transport Minister Lisa Raitt is moving in the right direction with the new speed limit.

"We're seeing step by step, things improve, but there's always room for more improvement," said Gignac.

What the councilor wants to know is what trains are hauling through the city.

Every day in Windsor 80 to 120 oil tank cars pass through Windsor, carrying 12 million litres of oil.

But beyond that, little is known about what exactly is travelling through the city.

The city did have an opportunity to sign an agreement to know what was in the rail cars, on a quarterly basis, but Gignac said the committee was not comfortable with the wording of that document.

First responders should know tanker contents

Windsor is one of the only cities who has refused to sign an agreement with rail companies that contained a confidentiality clause on what was being transported in the rail cars.

Gignac thinks the city's coordinator of emergency response should be provided current time information so responders would have the proper equipment and training to deal with any kind of potential emergency.

Gignac said her main concern with rail companies and Transport Canada is that they proposed to give out information of goods that were being carried through the city months ago instead of what's currently expected to come through.

According to Gignac, there are 55 km of rail lines in Windsor and that approximately 11,200 homes are within 300 metres or those rail lines — 500 of them are directly on the way.

"That's 12 per cent of all the dwellings in the city of Windsor and as representatives of the people, we feel very strongly that we should push for the best agreement that we can get in terms of information that would be provided our coordinator," said Gignac.

Ottawa should do more: NDP

Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse agrees that Windsor's first responders should know what rail cars are carrying in case of a disaster. He said it's an issue the federal government has not yet addressed.

"They see it when they get there, they also don't know the mixtures that could be out there in the field or whether they are full, or empty or partially full," said Masse.

Gignac and Masse both said the federal government needs to do more. The city plans to keep up the pressure.