Clean up confirmed for Hamilton’s rail overpasses

Hamilton’s much maligned railway overpasses, a frequent source of complaints from residents, are set to be clean up next spring, according to Ward 2 Councillor Cameron Kroetsch.

In a post on X, Kroetsch said he had hammered out a deal between the city and the overpass owners, the newly formed Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC). Kroetsch explained he had recieved numerous complaints from residents over the years, and had even made the cleanup of the rail overpasses a campiagn promise.

He organized a meeting between Hamilton’s city staff, CPKC and the railway authority this summer to hash out jurisdictional issues. “I explained to them that many residents had been complaining about the underside of the rail corridor for many years and I wanted to find a solution,” he wrote.

This meeting confirmed that the city could take unilateral control to clean up the corridor. After meeting with city staff, they learned they could begin to upgrade services in the area by spring.

“‘It’s going to take several months to onboard programs for power washing and other cleaning and to address some of the disrepair and lighting issues, but we’re working on it. I’m hopeful that a completely new service level can be established sometime next year,” Kroetsch wrote.

Over the next several months the city will invest in additional cleaning, updated splash guards, better lighting, bird netting, and other improvements.