Part of why I wanted to walk here was to check out all the work CN has been doing along here for the railway. I’d checked it out at night before, but wanted to see it in better light and snap some photos.
About two years ago, both sides of the embankment to the right of the bridge the train is crossing, looked as though they had been BrushHogged. I asked my local community group if they had any idea. Are they replacing a bridge? Adding a new one? Just reinforcing the banks? No idea. They asked our local city councillor? He had no idea. Asked various departments of the city. They had no idea. Asked Canadian National Railways. They didn’t know. Finally someone at their head office in Ottawa confirmed that indeed, a new bridge was going in beside the old one. The stretch between here and Oakville is the busiest stretch of rail in the whole country. That they need to increase capacity is not too surprising. What’s incredible about it is that if you or I wanted to put up a trellis, we would be required to jump through all sorts of regulatory hoops. CN wants to put in something as major as a rail bridge over a historically significant canal, and they don’t even bother giving the city a courtesy notification.
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