A retired civil engineer has expressed concerns about the new railway link from the existing Oshawa GO Station to the existing bridge over Highway 401.
Jim McEwen says he has asked Metrolinx to share the proposed grade but without success.
He has now written to Jennifer French, MPP from Oshawa and Official Opposition Critic for Transportation and Infrastructure, asking her to notice how this new link includes an apparent sharp horizontal curve.
“In my Year 3 Transportation class (1977) the first thing we learned was to never design a sharp horizontal curve at the base of a steep grade for both highways and railways!” said McEwen.
Potential Safety Issues
“If a westbound GO train derails east of the Oshawa Station, it could easily end up on the CNR mainline tracks in front of an approaching freight train! Hopefully, designers are considering this potential safety issue with final designs,” said the retired civil engineer.
McEwen said Metrolinx claims that this new railway link is still under design at Stantec. He asked if Stantec can share the preliminary drawings to alleviate potential safety concerns.
He said he had raised his safety concerns on November 7, 2023 in this area and after Stantec filed their EA Addendum Report with the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Conservation.
Passing The Buck
“The Ontario Ministry of Environment and Conservation responded to me by saying that railway safety with the new Option 2 alignment is of no concern of the province as railway safety falls under federal jurisdiction,” said McEwen.
“I wrote to Transport Canada about my safety concerns and no one responded! To date I’m not aware of anyone addressing my railway safety concerns with the new Option 2 GO alignment in west Oshawa,” said the retired civil engineer.
He said going by the design, the GO train activity immediately east of the existing Oshawa Station will likely be reduced to a railway shunting operation.
He alleged that “Metrolinx has done a terrible job in communicating with the public on the Bowmanville GO train”.