Whitehorse eyes fix for derelict train tracks cited as safety hazard

CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 2:11 PM EDT | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago

A Whitehorse metropolis councillor says it's time, aft decades of waiting for trains to instrumentality to the Yukon capital, to bash thing astir obstruction crossings connected downtown streets.

Coun. Dan Boyd says he's gotten complaints from cyclists and others astir the tracks that transverse 4th Avenue adjacent Robert Service Way.

"I'd privation to beryllium precise cautious crossing that with a motorbike oregon bicycle oregon adjacent a tiny vehicle," helium said.

Mobility advocate Darryl Tait, who uses a wheelchair, said the crossing is simply a hazard. He said wheelchair users efficaciously person to pop a wheelie to get implicit the rails. 

"Falling into the ace astatine immoderate benignant of momentum could origin you to grab the beforehand caster instrumentality and they'll conscionable similar eject retired of the beforehand of your chair," helium said.

The tracks are portion of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway, which hasn't tally gross work into downtown Whitehorse since the aboriginal 1980s. Despite occasional rumblings that the railway mightiness effort to restart service, Boyd said there's nary constituent waiting immoderate longer, particularly due to the fact that tracks southbound of downtown were buried by repeated mudslides connected the clay cliffs.

Boyd said metropolis crews person already done immoderate enactment to spot up the 4th Avenue crossing, but called for a imperishable fix. The tracks besides intersect 2nd Avenue, but there's nary crosswalk there.

"The agelong word solution I deliberation is just to enactment the roadworthy done decently and woody with the close of mode of the railroad tracks later, if it comes to beryllium that for immoderate crushed the bid is going to tally into downtown Whitehorse again sometime successful the future," Boyd said.

A spokesperson for White Pass and Yukon Route declined to comment.