From the House of Commons - February 11, 2000:
Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, today I would like to raise again with the Minister of Transport and with others an issue which I think should be of concern to all members of parliament, or at least those members of parliament who have rail lines running through their constituencies.
The fact is that the railways, all of them, are running longer and longer trains. We are now seeing 10,000 foot trains as a rule. I am told sometimes there are 12,000 foot trains. They are tying up railway crossings for a much longer period of time than is allowed for in the rules. It is only supposed to be five minutes. However, there are crossings in my riding, and others may have the same, where trains are taking 45 minutes to clear the crossings.
This means that traffic is backed up. It means that public safety concerns are raised in terms of ambulances and emergency services that cannot get from one part of town to the other.
I have raised this with the Minister of Transport before. This is a real issue which needs to be dealt with. The railways are abusing the rules and some day someone is going to die because they are abusing these rules and because the government has refused to do anything about it.
Once again I urge the minister to act.
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