Calgary, Alberta – May 16, 2018

Calgary’s C-Train LRT system suffered a major disruption earlier today, after a light rail train struck and killed a pedestrian on Calgary’s Northeast LRT line. Such an incident would have caused major commuter chaos if it had occurred along one of the proposed Surrey LRT lines.

According to Daily Hive Calgary, the Calgary Sun and others, the collision occured just after 9AM mountain time this morning on a segment where the C-Train LRT line runs down the middle of an arterial road. The accident caused major delays for commuters, as service on the Northeast LRT line was disrupted in both directions for over 2 hours – with passengers required to disembark trains and board shuttle buses.

Calgary Transit reported that trains were not fully returned to schedule until 11:42AM mountain time – nearly 3 hours after the crash occured. However, some passengers reported waiting up to 40 minutes for a train as late as 12:05PM mountain time.

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Surrey’s LRT proposal will be prone to fatal collsions.

The proposed Surrey Light Rail Transit system will run at street level on segments of 104th Avenue, King George Boulevard and Fraser Highway. Incidents like this where LRT trains are involved in collisions with vehicles or pedestrians can prove fatal for those who are hit, and generally necessitate complete shut downs of that segment of the LRT system.

Once again, this incident highlights a major, fundamental flaw of the proposed street-running light rail system endorsed by TransLink, the Regional Mayors’ Council, and the City of Surrey. The proposed LRT lines run in the medians of major arterial roads, and would cross through several busy intersections at street level.

Any one of these busy intersections could be blocked and shut down if there is an accident.

SkyTrain for Surrey has called for the cancellation of the Surrey-Newton-Guildford LRT project, the conversion of the Surrey-Langley LRT into a SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line, and the construction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on King George Boulevard and 104th Avenue (instead of an LRT).

With BRT’s ability to detour around accident areas, and SkyTrain’s ability to simply pass overhead, a rapid transit system built on SkyTrain and BRT would not be subject to total disruptions.

Surrey residents expect their future rapid transit system to be a trustworthy and reliable service. A street-running LRT system will not deliver one.

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SkyTrain for Surrey is a local grassroots organization calling for a SkyTrain and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network instead of the currently-proposed on-street Light Rail system in Surrey. Our campaign has called on decision-makers to build the Langley Extension of the SkyTrain Expo Line, in conjunction with an extension of the 96 B-Line to Coquitlam Centre and White Rock as a Bus Rapid Transit system.

For further information, contact:
Daryl Dela Cruz, Founding Director
Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]