Via Rail needs to silence train horns at Greenbank crossing, city says

The city will officially ask Via Rail to silence its trains' horns as they traverse a temporary rail crossing at Greenbank Road.

For the past few months, some Barrhaven residents have complained about excessive noise at Greenbank Road, where construction of a new rail underpass began in February.

On Wednesday, city council voted in favour of making the request, although five councillors — plus Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson — expressed their dissent.

Federal laws require trains to sound their whistle before they reach the crossing's work site, a project that had already been under consideration when six people died in a September 2013 collision between an OC Transpo bus and a Via Rail passenger train.

The fatal collision spurred a push to replace level crossings in the city with either overpasses or underpasses.

The city has said most of the work on the Greenbank underpass will be done by late fall 2016, with finishing work and landscaping ongoing until the summer of 2017.