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.
#CTRiders please be advised due to an accident north of Whitehorn station there is currently no CTrain service between Whitehorn and McKnight stations. There are shuttle buses set up to connect you to and from Whitehorn and McKnight #RedLine#BlueLinepic.twitter.com/ympzA1AXQ6
This is the same area where a woman was fatally struck by a CTrain last year. In that case, CPS says the pedestrian was distracted by her phone. #yycpic.twitter.com/pNFLiEwByx
Police can now confirm that an elderly woman was struck and killed by a CTrain while crossing north of the Whitehorn LRT Station - no further information about her identity or the cause of the collision is available at this time #yyc@CTVCalgary
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.
About SkyTrain for Surrey
SkyTrain for Surrey is the community organization that advocated for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension (SLS). From our beginnings as a petition calling for the scrapping of a street-level LRT proposal, we grew into a community of like-minded folk, taking on various projects such as making SkyTrain an election issue in 2018 as a registered advocacy group. Today we are pushing for the construction of the SLS as well as the King George SkyTrain extension (KGS).
Media Contact:
Daryl Dela Cruz – Founder, SkyTrain for Surrey Phone: +1 604 329 3529, [email protected]
Commuter chaos: Fatal collision shuts down Calgary’s C-Train LRT
