Useless railroad crossings - time to update?

[Atomoa]

The Spall/Clement cluster-bomb of stop lights.

Now that the railroad is closed and the track is deserted - why are the stop lights still being used there?

Is there plans to get another railroad going - 2-5 years from now?

What's the scoop?

[kgcayenne]

There is work taking place in that location, and I too am curious. Something is pointing my thinking in the direction of extending the pedestrian/bike path, and that the lights will stay and be ped/bike controlled.

[Captain Awesome]

Yeah, I always thought they'll be developing a cycling route along the railroad.

[GordonH]

There is work taking place in that location, and I too am curious. Something is pointing my thinking in the direction of extending the pedestrian/bike path, and that the lights will stay and be ped/bike controlled.

This part of what will be happening
http://www.kelowna.ca/CityPage/Docs/PDF ... _AEMap.pdf

This is more then likely coming once no one is found to take over the rail line:
http://www.kelowna.ca/CityPage/Docs/PDF ... aseTwo.pdf

Added later: Unfortunately the 4 sets of lights in .75 Km distance will Likely not change (From Harvey to Bernard on Spall)

[kgcayenne]

Love it!

[Cumungala]

CN has made the boneheaded decision to take out the crossing arms at the Spall, Gordon and Clement crossings. That accomplished absolutely nothing and they will only have to be installed again if another operator comes forward. There hasn't been a train in ONLY 10 months and CN is already trying to dismantle the line. Most abandoned. tracks stay in place for a few years at least before they are taken out. Those crossings have to remain as is for now.

By the way, the rails with trails extention from Spall to Dilworth is being built beside the existing line and hopefully none of the main tracks will be removed. The city also has plans to build the next phase of Clement Avenue on the other side of the existing line and it is possible to happen with the tracks still in place. They are just lazy to build this road.

[GordonH]

CN has made the boneheaded decision to take out the crossing arms at the Spall, Gordon and Clement crossings. That accomplished absolutely nothing and they will only have to be installed again if another operator comes forward. There hasn't been a train in ONLY 10 months and CN is already trying to dismantle the line. Most abandoned. tracks stay in place for a few years at least before they are taken out. Those crossings have to remain as is for now.

By the way, the rails with trails extention from Spall to Dilworth is being built beside the existing line and hopefully none of the main tracks will be removed. The city also has plans to build the next phase of Clement Avenue on the other side of the existing line and it is possible to happen with the tracks still in place. They are just lazy to build this road.

Since the deadline has come & gone with no one able or willing to take it over Cumungala, it's over.
Time to move on, remove the tracks.

[Cumungala]

No I'm not going to move on just yet. Kelowna going to lose its railway because nobody wants it, not because of the state of the tracks or because of the lack of rail service. People who are here for wine and golf don't like trains and don't care about Kelowna being an industrially productive town. No doubt that the tracks are not in the best shape, but the section from Vernon to Kamloops was in much worse shape before CN fixed it up over the past several months. This spring, some sections of the Vernon to Kelowna line are looking unsightly after being grown over with weeds, but that's just because there haven't been any trains in almost a year and because the Okanagan is very weedy to begin with. Kelowna Pacific provided an adequate amount of rail service right until early July of last year and they went bankrupt because of management issues, not because of a lack of demand for their service. As a whole, the Okanagan rail business is still quite profitable and has potential.

If the absolute worse case scenario happens and they go ahead with the abandonment, the tracks will probably still be in place for at least another year based on where CN is at now. In that time, I think would be appropriate to disable the auxiliary traffic signals placed ahead of the tracks at Spall, Clement and Gordon based on the fact that no trains will be coming. The railway crossing overhead signals should stay though, but CN has removed all the crossing arms from them already. The Dilworth crossing is a basically a speed bump and a bit of a hazard. The city had plans to fix the roadway leading up to it on both sides, but those plans are on hold for now.

[GordonH]

To make the service profitable the tracks need to repaired to the same point/level the Kamloops to Lumby lines is. Even before the train was shutdown top speed was only permitted at 25 Km per/Hr which is damn slow for train especial when time is money.
So who has the millions it would cost to do that and still make a profitable, no one in Kelowna or the central Okanagan.

Sorry Cumungala rail service is done, unless you have the millions if not move on.


Added: pull out the tracks between Vernon & Winfield that would be a hell of a bike/walking path.

[GordonH]

To make the service profitable the tracks need to repaired to the same point/level the Kamloops to Lumby lines is. Even before the train was shutdown top speed was only permitted at 25 Km per/Hr which is damn slow for train especial when time is money.
So who has the millions it would cost to do that and still make a profitable, no one in Kelowna or the central Okanagan.

Sorry Cumungala rail service is done, unless you have the millions if not move on.


Added: pull out the tracks between Vernon & Winfield that would be a hell of a bike/walking path.

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/11 ... ilds-steam

I very much like the idea.

[HeavyHauler]

The tracks have been paved over, end of discussion :)

[KL3-Something]

The tracks have been paved over, end of discussion :)

No. They haven't. The new pathway crossing is south of where the tracks are.

And they have made that intersection even more frustrating now by eliminating right turns on red lights from Clement onto Spall. Now those vehicles are going to have to wait until southbound on Spall is stopped. And everyone is going to have to stop every time a cyclist or pedestrian needs to cross Spall on the pathway.

[dodgerdodge]

No. They haven't. The new pathway crossing is south of where the tracks are.

And they have made that intersection even more frustrating now by eliminating right turns on red lights from Clement onto Spall. Now those vehicles are going to have to wait until southbound on Spall is stopped. And everyone is going to have to stop every time a cyclist or pedestrian needs to cross Spall on the pathway.

Why have they eliminated right turns on red there? Is there a logical safety reason?

[kgcayenne]

Why have they eliminated right turns on red there? Is there a logical safety reason?

Monkeys don't respect law-abiding cyclists, so like our educational system, they must cater to the lowest common denominator.

[KL3-Something]

CN has made the boneheaded decision to take out the crossing arms at the Spall, Gordon and Clement crossings. That accomplished absolutely nothing and they will only have to be installed again if another operator comes forward. There hasn't been a train in ONLY 10 months and CN is already trying to dismantle the line. Most abandoned. tracks stay in place for a few years at least before they are taken out. Those crossings have to remain as is for now.

By the way, the rails with trails extention from Spall to Dilworth is being built beside the existing line and hopefully none of the main tracks will be removed. The city also has plans to build the next phase of Clement Avenue on the other side of the existing line and it is possible to happen with the tracks still in place. They are just lazy to build this road.

It's only being built beside the rail line because when (yes, when and not if) the rails are removed Clement is going to extend all the way to McCurdy along the right of way.

You are just going to have to come to terms with the fact that rail service to Kelowna is done.

I would like to see the remaining right of way turned into a bike/multi-use trail from Kelowna to Vernon myself.