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Letter: New West Skytrain noise better than these awful trains

Editor: I see lately there has been a lot of comments made about the SkyTrain noise and the pending track repairs coming into the New Westminster station. Well, I must say that in the last couple of weeks there has been a massive improvement.
Trains
Trains rolling by New Westminster riverfront residents. RECORD FILES

Editor:

I see lately there has been a lot of comments made about the SkyTrain noise and the pending track repairs coming into the New Westminster station.

Well, I must say that in the last couple of weeks there has been a massive improvement.

Somebody with infinite wisdom has solved the problem for a lot of us Stewardson Way/Quayside Drive residents. As the SkyTrain heading east into the New West station passes the Petrol Can gas station on Stewardson Way, it has now started dramatically slowing down, to the point that you cannot hear it at all. Bravo to the person responsible for this decision.

Maybe they could start slowing down sooner to help out Isabelle, the storage manager on Stewardson Way.

However, westbound out of the station, is still pretty much the same. Keep working on it.

My other peeve is the blasting of the train horns as the cargo trains approach Quayside Drive, either heading towards the River Bridge or have just crossed it.

I am sure this is a train driver decision as to whether he just give a few blasts of the horn whenever he feels like it. I am positive there is no known regulations that require these horns, as there is no consistency. Some trains pass quietly, others blast five or six times. The horns should be a thing of the past now the track crossing gates have been updated.

Now I know some people will say, if you don't like it, why did you decide to live there?

The reason is, I love the area and I hope that someday the noise level will be decreased. There is no horn blasting allowed at the crossing just west of the market by the Pier West construction zone. So why is it allowed by the Laguna crossing on Quayside Drive? 

Also, is it not true that the horns have been banished in White Rock area - so why not here?  

Stephen Gillett, New Westminster