By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. February 21, 2013 A number of months ago we mentioned to you a problem we had with the keepers of the information keys at city hall. Staff screened a video of the King Road grade separation for council and when we asked for a copy of the video were told that we couldn’t have a copy because the US Homeland Security people said it would compromise their interests – which we thought was total poppycock.
Our Burlington had done a number of pieces on that event and we were excited at what we saw and wanted to share it. The city streamed the construction work live on its website that was watched by hundreds of people; many staying up much of the night to watch the trucks roll in and out of the hole that was being done at two-minute intervals.
We dug away and made phone calls and had a lawyer lined up to go after CN Rail, who were the people who told the city the video could not be given out – even though it is scheduled to be used by the city’s engineering department at a couple of conventions later this year.
Finally – the city relented and sent us a copy. It isn’t quite what we saw originally back in November, 2012, but it seems to be the best the city could do.
What you will see is a minute long video clip that compresses what was done over last Thanksgiving weekend when the King Road grade separation was built – in a three and a half day marathon effort. THAT was an amazing engineering feat.
The video is quite the thing to watch. The version you see will have white patches in the upper right hand corner, which is where you would normally see the CN trains rolling along. Four of the five railway lines were taken out while the grade separation was done; a fifth was kept in place and long, long freight trains passed over the construction site – albeit at a snail’s pace.
Check out the video and then wonder why the American security people didn’t want you seeing the trains go by. What you will see is a 5000 ton concrete tunnel being shoved into the hole that was dug out. Quite fascinating to watch.
You might want to look at the clip a few times – what you are seeing is three days of work compressed into just over a minute. Let us know if you can figure out why the Americans demanded that CN block out parts of the image.
The really amazing part is when that 5000 tonne tunnel get pushed into the hole that was opened up beneath the railway line.
Enjoy.
The grade separation is not yet complete. The contract to build the road that will go under the railway tracks has been let and early construction work has been done. King Road will be closed for a short period of time September 21st to October 22nd, after which there will be a grand official opening when every elected official still breathing will show up to have their picture taken. Trains will still run along the track – but the Americans may not want anyone to film that.
Since when did CANADA become part of the USA.?????
Maybe this was just an excuse used by CNR for not giving the video to the public.
Editors note: The video was shown at a public council committee meeting and will be used by the city at professional engineering events. CN appears to have bowed to US Homeland Security concerns about not just rail traffic but about other communications traffic that runs along the right of way. Getting what we got was the best we could do.