CN is making considerable changes to its Jasper Yard, but the $12 million investment does not change the way the Jasper Yard operates, the company says.

Jasperites may have noticed a bustle of activity in the Jasper Yard in recent months: sources close to the work, whose identities the Jasper Local agreed to protect, said the improvements are in the name of preparing track for eventual integration into the company’s Centralized Traffic Control (CTC)—a move that, theoretically, could eventually lead to higher train speeds in town.

The Jasper Local’s source said that the company is re-aligning track to remove a curve in the yard, banking certain tracks and electrifying the line—moves which would allow for higher speeds.

“They are doing the exact things that are required to get Transport Canada to designate the tracks as higher speeds,” the source said.

However, CN media spokesperson Ashley Michnowski said the work currently underway does not include CTC integration.

“The work in the yard is driven by operational efficiency,” she said. “This work is distinct from CTC and at this time there is not CTC work planned as Jasper remains an active yard.”

Yards are not under Centralized Traffic Control, but how long CN will keep the Jasper Yard around is anyone’s guess. Last fall, CN announced that the company is relocating its Jasper crew change terminal 100 kms east to Dalehurst, outside of Hinton. That move, which union leaders have said will “gut the town” and which has been the subject of much discussion at local stakeholder meetings, has not happened yet. CN would not comment on timelines.

“We will be declining to comment at this time,” a spokesperson told The Jasper Local in June.

And when asked last week when local rail operations will cease, Michnowski again said the company had no comment.

Primary track speed vs non-main track speed

Transport Canada’s Canadian Rail Operating Rules stipulate track speed for trains running on non-main track (yard track, siding or spur track). Rule 105 of those regulations stipulates trains on non-main track must operate at reduced speed (less than 15mph). The Jasper Local’s source said that if CN integrated local track into the CTC they could run trains through town at speeds higher than 15 mph. But Michnowski said the current work does not include adding any signals or communications to the track.

“There are tracks and switches within the yard that are redundant and removing redundancy increases the overall safety of yard operations,” she said.

The Jasper Local asked CN if the current work being done in the Jasper Yard is to prepare for the eventual integration of the Jasper Yard into the CTC, or if track speed in the Jasper yard will remain at less than 15mph in perpetuity.

Michnowski’s emailed response did not answer those questions directly.

“The work currently underway does not include CTC integration,” Michnowski said. “Train speeds through Jasper Yard have always varied based on day-to-day operational needs.”

Train speed on primary track (main track; not sidings, yards or spurs) on the west side of the Jasper Yard (Albreda subdivision) is set at 35 mph (56 km/h) while on the east (Edson sub) it’s 30 mph, according to local railroaders. Those track speeds increase as trains get further out of Jasper.

The recent track changes in the Jasper Yard are in the name of operational efficiency and safety, Michnowski said.

“[The] yard improvements in Jasper [will] enhance the overall fluidity of our operations and strengthen the robust safety measures already in place,” she said.

Michnowski said track speed is regulated by Transport Canada (TC), and any future changes would require meeting all TC requirements before they could be implemented.

“The work being done does not change the operations of the yard,” she said.

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com