City council is asking for the public's input on the prospect of reducing waiting times for trains by having the train speed through the city increased from 10 to 30 miles an hour, or from 16 up to 48 kilometres an hour.

A large contingent of officials from CP Rail met in Weyburn on Wednesday with city officials, including members of city council, to conduct four train speed tests to determine the effect of the noise, and time how long the delays are at the crossings at Government Road and Third Street.

A train going at the current mandated speed of 10 mph (16 km/h) took about five and a half minutes to clear the crossing for a average-length 115-car train. Doubled to 20 mph (32 km/h), it took the train four minutes 23 seconds to clear, and at 30 mph (48 km/h) the train only took three minutes and six seconds to clear.

A fourth train run was done at 40 mph (64.4 km/h), and the train cleared the intersection in two and a half minutes. The timing began from when the bells at Third Street started to ring, until the last car cleared the crossing. An additional 20 seconds is typically required until the arms raise again.

Mayor Don Schlosser noted that CPR has attempted to get the city to allow for higher train speeds in the past, but this time, all the safety concerns council voiced before were dealt with.

City manager Bob Smith said the city continues to get complaints that it takes too long for the train to get through the crossing intersections, especially for those coming or going to the South Hill.

"Right now they have to slow down to 10 mph. For a 115-car train, there's a considerable amount of time saved if they don't have to slow down," said Smith.

Mayor Schlosser said the primary issue for the city has always been one of safety, and he said he feels the CPR has addressed all safety issues. In addition, the railway will build a fence on both sides of the track through the downtown area to keep pedestrians off of it except at the controlled rail crossings.

One of the concerns brought up were the recent derailments in Estevan, and Schlosser noted those took place at a very slow speed (8 mph) and on older bolted tracks. The main Soo Line going through Weyburn is a seamless endless track, and higher speeds are safer with no fears of derailment.

"The reason the 10 mph limit is in place, it was put in place in 1932; something happened that caused the speed to be reduced to 10 mph, but nobody seems to know why," explained the mayor.

Part of the problem right now is that due to the very slow speed the engines push on the acceleration once they've cleared the two downtown crossings, and this creates a lot of the noise associated with the train going through the city.

The fencing to be put up will start at Barber Motors at Government Road and extend to just north of the museum, with fences to go along the 30-foot right-of-way on both sides of the track.

"A lot of people don't realize the number of people who walk across the tracks. We couldn't believe it that day the number of people who were doing that," said Mayor Schlosser, referring to the test run day on May 4.

He noted CPR has also committed to improving the smoothness of the tracks for pedestrians, particularly those using motorized wheelchairs across the Third Street crossing.

As to the crossing at 16th Street, the mayor also said CPR will install a set of crossing arms there if the speed is increased, and hopes the CPR and Transport Canada will pay the entire costs of those arms. Normally the city would pay about 12 per cent of the cost.

Referring to the current average length of 115 cars, the mayor added that length is also bound to increase, which will increase the waiting time at intersections if the speed is not allowed to be increased.

Some of the upgrades CPR is proposing as well includes interchange spur lines at Halbrite and to the west of Weyburn so there will be more switching outside of the city rather within the city as trains now do.

In a report to council, other concerns about the current waiting times are that it causes life-threatening delays for police, fire and ambulance crews, and the shorter time to get by a train could mean the difference between life and death in some cases.

"I'm excited about how much progress has been made," said Coun. Gary Frederickson, noting this issue arose at the last all-candidates' meeting for council elections.

Coun. Dick Michel echoed those comments, noting that communications between the city and CPR has improved considerably in recent years, and favours increasing the speed to 30 mph.

Mayor Schlosser said he also supports going to 30 mph, noting 40 mph creates more of a hazard, and doesn't add that much in time savings at the intersections.

He asked for the matter to be reserved for a council decision on Tuesday, May 24, to give city residents the chance to voice their opinion on increasing the train speeds.

Council set the mill rates for 2005 on Monday night, setting a zero-increase in the taxes with the base tax level set at $390.

As this year sees the implementation of the controversial base tax, as well as being a re-evaluation year for property assessments, council decided to ensure the tax increase was kept to zero.

There will be differences in tax bills, depending on reassessment and the base tax works out for an individual property.

City manager Bob Smith said council made most of their budgetary adjustments on the capital spending side, with some staffing levels reduced but no reductions in service levels.

A request for tree planting by the City Centre Mall was put off to the 2006 year, unless there are funds left over from the Centennial grant for the boardwalk project between Government Road and Third Street.

The mall, taken over last year by a local group of investors, asked the city for eight to 10 trees to be planted along the boulevard of the parking lot adjacent to Railway Avenue.

Mall property manager Karen Hill said in her letter to the city the owners intended to help revitalize the downtown area, and planting these trees would help to beautify the area along with the boardwalk Centennial project.

With the parks budget for tree-planting fixed at $6,000 for the year, the city was not able to accommodate the mall's request this year, and was put on the list for 2006. City manager Smith said the area would require 12 trees at a cost of $120 each.

In addition, the city has a concern that some asphalt would have to be removed in order to plant the trees, which would add to the project's expenses.

Coun. Bill Rudachyk said possibly the city could approve this if the mall undertook to remove the asphalt at their expense, as a sort of partnering on the project, but the planting may still not occur until 2006.