CN Rail barriers and communications down in traffic snafus

Canadian National (CN) Railway company has not responded to repeated inquires by the Richmond News over numerous failures this month and last at its rail crossings along the Shell Road corridor.

Communications between CN and the City of Richmond also appear to be scant.

“We’ve repeatedly phoned CN Rail to express our concerns and ask them to remedy the situation,” said city spokesperson Ted Townsend.

On Wednesday, the crossing bars at Alderbridge Way and Shell Road were malfunctioning, as they had been earlier this month, several times, and at different locations along Shell.

News1130 reported long delays on Highway 91 as a result of the failure, at 4 p.m.

The City of Richmond tweeted that it was “extremely concerned about the rail arm issues and have diligently contacted [CN communications] several times.”

CN did not respond to the News’ latest request by press time.

Earlier in the month, the News was aware of at least two incidences in which the crossing bars had malfunctioned, causing serious traffic delays.

Note: As of Thursday afternoon, CN Rail has informed the Richmond News it will provide an update on the situation come Friday, Feb.24.