Pierre Perras has been looking into how noise levels emitted by trains hurtling through Magog and blaring their whistles overnight have been impacting residents since fall, and on Monday, he submitted a petition to the municipal council demanding they address the situation.
“I’m living in a district where it’s very noisy and it starts from there, I mean, people around here are always disturbed every night by the sound of the train, which is 96 decibels, for example, if you’re going to a hockey game at the Bell Centre, it’s 85 decibels,” said Perras.
In a phone interview with The Record, Perras said there are about 100 signatures on the petition. The municipality has been asked to find a way to stop trains from blowing their whistles, sometimes excessively, when they pass through Magog, especially at night.
According to Perras, the petition is just the tip of the iceberg. He has heard several testimonials from residents. One mother said she needs to soothe her child every night because of the train whistles, and another resident said he’s up every day at 4 a.m. because of the noise.
The petition isn’t meant to intimidate the municipal council, Perras explained, the goal is to work together to find common ground and a viable, and affordable, solution to the noise problem. He already has several ideas, including going straight to the source.
“In the province of Quebec, and even in Ontario and throughout Canada, there are a lot of municipalities who have a special agreement with the Canadian Pacific,” Perras said, adding that Coaticook has this type of non-whistle agreement with the railway company.
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