A paramedic living in Bashaw has requested council on Thurs. April 18 looking into a quiet zone for rail crossings within town limits.
He and others in the same occupation take up residency at the old cheese factory close to the tracks.
The medics spend four days at a time living at the station.
“While we often get to sleep at night that is not a guarantee and we often end up working throughout the night and attempting to catch up on sleep when we can during the day.
“As you can imagine, living next to the tracks when the whistle is blowing at all hours (and does) causes significant interruptions to our sleep at any time of the day or night.
“The wrong combination of call timing and train-timing can leave us exhausted by the end of a tour,” said Andrew Grimes in his request letter to council.
A quiet zone requires trains entering the area refrain from using their horns when passing a crossing within town limits and is something that many other communities currently adopt for the sake of their resident’s peace.
The cost of purchasing two warning systems or gates may be required in order to do this as well as any operating costs attached as well. Council agreed to have administration seek more detail as to what this quiet zone requires as per costs and how it could possibly be set up for the town’s two crossings.
Small town survival
Council approved Coun. Lynn Schultz suggestion to have administration generate a letter to surrounding municipalities regarding small town survival to newly elected officials including MLA Jackie Lovely and the Alberta Premier.
“I get sick and tired of listening to Edmonton and Calgary whining to the government for money all the time and I think now that we’ve had an election I’m wondering if we shouldn’t send a letter to Lovely and to the premier and congratulate them on their winning and remind them that the big cities are interested in growing. Small towns are interested in staying alive and we have infrastructure that needs looking after,” said Schultz.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
