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Swing bridge legal battle remains stalled, December appeal likely

THUNDER BAY – The nearly two-and-half-year legal battle between the city and CN Rail regarding the closed James Street Swing Bridge doesn’t appear ready to conclude anytime soon.
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(tbnewswatch.com file photograph)

THUNDER BAY – The nearly two-and-half-year legal battle between the city and CN Rail regarding the closed James Street Swing Bridge doesn’t appear ready to conclude anytime soon.

Both parties are in a position to return to the courtroom with a court date no earlier than late December.

On Wednesday City of Thunder Bay manager Norm Gale confirmed with tbnewswatch.com the municipality intends to appeal to Superior Court Justice John Fregeau regarding its access to the bridge.

Part of a ruling made by Justice Fregeau in January allowed city engineers access to examine CN’s bridge. However, that ruling still required CN and the city to agree to terms for that access.

As of Tuesday neither CN nor the city could agree to such terms.

“We continue to work with CN to gain access for our engineers,” Gale said. “To that end we have appealed to Justice Fregeau. We do have court dates in late December where the justice will hear both parties presuming that we do not have access before that time.”

The bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic since a fire engulfed part of the structure on Oct. 29, 2013. The bridge has remained off-limits to vehicular traffic ever since despite train traffic being permitted to cross only three days after the fire.

Travellers who depend on the bridge as their main commuting route have been forced to detour to Highway 61.

According to CN Rail spokesman Olivier Chouc, the city’s inability to access the bridge has little to do with CN.

During an interview with CKPR Radio, Chouc said “the difficulties the city claims it has … is not consistent with my understanding of the situation.”

Chouc said officials with CN have reached out to the city numerous times to discuss access for inspection since the justice made his order in January.

After receiving word back from the city only “very recently,” Chouc added there have been conversations but CN has yet to receive a specific date from the city.

“If the city gives us a date we will make sure to accommodate their needs and make sure they have safe access. The only thing we ask, to be fair, is that they recognize when inspecting a bridge in those conditions it presents a risk and we want to make sure they understand those risks and protect against those risks.”

Meanwhile, the public could be one step closer to finding out how the October 2013 bridge fire started.

John Montgomery, an investigator with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office, said the final report about the fire is complete.

The report was submitted in the fall, and since then has been undergoing a lengthy review process.

“So now it is just awaiting the final supervisory technical review and then it will be distributed,” Montgomery said.

The length of the investigation is not connected with the litigation between the city and CN Rail.

 





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