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Heartbroken mother wants railway crossing gate installed

BY KEITH LACEY [email protected] A Sudbury woman whose teenage son was killed after being hit by a train in a busy residential neighbourhood is pleading with city council to support her cause to have a level crossing gate installed in the area.
BY KEITH LACEY

A Sudbury woman whose teenage son was killed after being hit by a train in a busy residential neighbourhood is pleading with city council to support her cause to have a level crossing gate installed in the area.

A grieving Sudbury mother is asking city council to support her cause to have CN Rail install a gate at the level crossing on Maley Drive. The woman?s teenage son was killed two years ago at the crossing.
Maureen Duhaime told Northern Life her life has been a nightmare since her son Brent Duhaime was killed the evening of Dec. 4, 2001.

While walking in the dense fog that evening with zero visibility, her son was hit and killed by a southbound freight train from Capreol travelling at 52 miles per hour, said Duhaime.

The incident occurred at the Canadian National Railway?s Bala Subdivision at Maley Drive, a mainline track near the entrance to Timberwolf Golf Course, an area that has seen massive residential growth and increase traffic over the past several years, said Duhaime.

City councillor and Deputy Mayor Louise Portelance presented a motion to city council Tuesday evening petitioning CN to install a signalized railway crossing in this area and to reduce the speed of its trains in residential neighbourhoods like this.

Duhaime, who was overwrought and emotional when contacted by Northern Life, said she isn?t ready to come forward into the public spotlight right now as she?s still struggling with her son?s death.

However, she is pleased Portelance has taken up her cause and she wanted this newspaper to go public with her battle to have the Maley crossing signalized with full barriers.

?Every adult and child I have educated since this tragedy was stunned to learn of the maximum permissible speed at Maley Drive in contrast to the many other train crossings in town where trains travel much slower,? she said.

As she taught her son to do, he was doing the proper thing and walking towards traffic when he was hit and killed by the train, she said.

The problem is there are no sidewalks in this area and the zero visibility caused by the dense fog combined to cause an accident that didn?t have to happen, she said.

In a letter to city council, Duhaime writes ?I believe that my son intended to stand in front of the flashing lights, however, he probably did not realize they were on the far side of the tracks.

?Consequently, the train hit him. According to police, he was half a step away from safety.

?I believe the signal bungalow could have obscured his view of the approaching train. I am confident that if this crossing had gates, that my son would be alive today.?

The urban sprawl of both Garson and the New Sudbury area has been creating larger volumes of vehicular and pedestrian traffic along Maley Drive for several years and what was once a traditionally industrial area has grown into a large residential area, said Duhaime.

She doesn?t want any other life taken at this particular crossing and she?s urging council to support Portelance?s motion asking CN Rail to install a gate at this crossing as quickly as possible.

Since taking up Duhaime?s cause, Portelance has discovered there are a number of steps that are going to have to be taken to ultimately have this crossing gated, but she?s determined to ensure it happens.

?I?ve discovered we need Transport Canada and Ministry of Natural Resources approval before anything substantial can happen,? said the veteran councillor. ?But I will be sending the letter and support of council to Transport Canada as quickly as possible.

?It?s going to take some time, but I?m determined to ensure this railway crossing is a safer place and another tragedy like this doesn?t happen.?

Portelance says she ?finds it hard to believe? trains can go whipping by this busy residential area as speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour.

?I know of all kinds of railway crossings out in the middle of nowhere behind Capreol where the trains must slow right down and there are full gated crossings,? she said. ?It boggles my mind this particular crossing in the middle of a growing residential neighbourhood doesn?t have the same kind of rules and regulations.

?The bottom line is we?ve got to get a gate installed at this particular dangerous crossing.?


UPDATE: Friday August 15th

City council unanimously supported a local woman?s plea to urge Transport Canada and Canadian National Railway to install a gate near a busy residential crossing on Maley Drive.

Maureen Duhaime wrote a letter to council detailing how her son Brent, 13, was killed more than two years ago after being struck by a train at a crossing near the Bala Subdivision on Maley Drive.

Her son, who was walking near the tracks in a dense fog, was killed when a train the hit him at 52 miles per hour, said Duhaime.

Councillor Louise Portelance has taken up Duhaime?s cause and was very pleased she received unanimous support from council to urge CN and Transport Canada to install the gate as quickly as possible.

?I think it is an urgent matter,? said Portelance.

Although confident a gate will be installed at this crossing, Portelance pointed out it?s going to take some time as Transport Canada must review the situation before telling CN to install a new gate.


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