Accidents disrupt Calgary's C-Train LRT 3 times in 5 days

On the morning of July 14th, a second incident in downtown Calgary shut down all C-Train service. A man in his 20’s was struck by a C-Train on the street-running portion on 7th Avenue, after the man attempt to beat the train while crossing outside of a crosswalk.

According to Global News, CTV News, the Calgary Sun and others, the man was sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Downtown LRT trains were forced to turn around, and service in the area was shut down until being restored at approximately 9:20AM. However, delays would continue for another hour, as trains re-adjusted to meet schedules. As a result, disruption to C-Train service from the accident lasted for over 2-and-a-half hours.

On July 16th, a separate “incident”, as described by Calgary Transit, caused delays exceeding 30 minutes on the Red Line LRT. This incident has been the third to cause serious delays for passengers in just 5 days.

Surrey’s LRT could be subject to regular service disruptions

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 life-threatening for those who are hit, and generally necessitate complete shut downs of that segment of the LRT system. These incidents could happen regularly, resulting in multiple service shutdowns within a short period of time.

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.