A local company has created an app it says will notify drivers of train crossings, allowing them to avoid congested areas. Winnipeg driver Cheyenne Call said she often finds herself waiting for trains to cross in the Waverley Street and Taylor Avenue area.
Balis Borrer lives in the area and said he, too, is constantly being held up by trains at the intersection. “I catch it every single day going to work, coming back from work,” said Borrer.
But drivers like Call and Borrer could soon have a tool at their disposal that would allow them to anticipate and steer clear of traffic jams at railway crossings altogether.
A group of Winnipeg consultants have come up with a way to predict when a train is coming, where it’s going and what the average wait time will be — and they’ll be using Twitter to spread the word.
“This is providing real-time tweets so whenever there’s a blocked crossing at Marion and Archibald or Marion and Cottonwood, there’ll be a tweet that goes out to all our followers,” said Garreth Rempel, principal and founding partner of MORR Transportation Consulting Ltd.
Rempel and his team continue to collect data and are applying algorithms to try and better predict where trains will be and when. The service is still in its pilot phase, but they’re already sending notifications from the @trainfowpg Twitter account for the two Marion Street crossings.
Garreth Rempel, a Berliner Kehler, is the Principal and Founding Partner of MORR Transportation Consulting Ltd. He resides in Winnipeg with his wife and two children. Garreth is the son of Lucille (Dueck) & Bob Rempel and grandson to (the late Gustav) & the late Betty (nee Kehler) Dueck, Steinbach, MB.