Person Hit by Train at Chinook Station

[Fuzz]

Would it be so hard to have locking pedestrian gates to prevent this?

[Sinny Darino]

Originally Posted by driveway

A single empty LRT car weighs about 45 tons. A loaded C-train would probably be something like 175 tons.

Sorry that I don't know the logistics of a fully loaded ctrain. I try not to be knowledgeable in absolutely everything. Lol

The fact of the matter... Big metal heavy object vs squishy little human.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Likely different circumstances but I was on a C-train years ago that hit somebody at roughly the same location. People were launched into the air inside the train at the sudden braking. Voice of the driving on the intercom was pretty shakey.

Everybody had to wait for a while and ultimately hop off and walk to the station. You could see the blanket covering up the body and police directing people away from it.

Story was that it was somebody from one of the rehab centers nearby choosing death by train - probably close to a decade ago now.

The driver must not have had time to brake here as the stop was only marginally faster than a normal platform stop but we had also shed a lot of speed already before the stop.

The driver here pretty much could only say a few times that emergency personal are on the way. The worst part for me was the horrific screams, puking, and faces of the people watching.

I used to be one of the these people are so stupid and just inconvenience me but after being close to it its just sad.

[pylon]

That crossing is an absolute recipe for disaster. It is probably the busiest station in the city, and should be an underground, or overground passage to the platform. I live near Chinook have have seen a ton of close calls there. With peoples heads buried in their phones now, this will become a very regular occurrence there.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by polak

Still don't understand how this happens unless you're pushed or jump

The at-grade crossings are pretty dangerous. Texting, reading on your phone or kindle, even just listening to music and not really paying attention. Just a split-second mistake is all it takes and the trains are not forgiving.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by GGG

The driver here pretty much could only say a few times that emergency personal are on the way. The worst part for me was the horrific screams, puking, and faces of the people watching.
.

that sounds terrible. I feel awful for everybody involved and who witnessed it.

[GGG]

So in the articles it reports him traveling from east to west. A north bound train had just left the station so the incident seems like it's one where the north bound train is clear so you believe it's safe to go but the southbound train is still on coming.

Locking gates or arms on the pedestrian crossing would help prevent this. The other thing I have seen drivers do is that the departing train doesn't vacate the crossing until the incoming train is clear but that is tough to coordinate and would slow service.

From a station design standpoint a station like Shawneessy where the station is twice as long and has a crossing between the two sides in the middle so the trains are stopped before the pedestrian crossing. That amount of space though isn't practical at existing stops.

[JohnnyB]

Here in Shanghai we seemed to go through a bit of a period with people choosing to commit suicide by jumping in front of trains. Now nearly all the stations in the city have walls on the platforms that close off the tracks and open only when the train has arrived. With over 400 stations, I don't think there's one where people need to walk across tracks either. Where there's a need and a will, there's a way.

[Burninator]

I was on the train that hit the person. Slightly harder braking than normal. I was in the middle of the last car and it came to a stop at the pedestrian crossing. No idea the train struck someone until I saw the reactions of the people at the crossing, then it was obvious what had happened. The driver made a couple announcements and his voice seemed strained. The station is one of busiest in the city so it's unfortunate that probably many people witnessed it. I saw many people that looked shook-up and many that were crying.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by GGG

From a station design standpoint a station like Shawneessy where the station is twice as long and has a crossing between the two sides in the middle so the trains are stopped before the pedestrian crossing. That amount of space though isn't practical at existing stops.

The City of Calgary released a video of someone getting hit by the train at that station. Thankfully he was fine, but the train comes to a stop quite quickly.

NSFW!

[skudr248]

Originally Posted by Burninator

The City of Calgary released a video of someone getting hit by the train at that station. Thankfully he was fine, but the train comes to a stop quite quickly.

NSFW!

I actually know this guy haha, he had his head phones in and yeah, anyway he lived

[burn_this_city]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...6-ne-1.3283671

Another one this morning in the NE.

[northcrunk]

Someone was hit at Rundle station this morning.

[HotHotHeat]

At some point the city has to accept that the current station designs are not safe and changing (under/over passes) them is necessary. It's easy for myself and many others to say 'how stupid do you have to be to get hit by a train?' - But it is clear by now that some genuinely do not understand how these walkways function. I assume they treat it like an roadway cross walk, where it is customary for cars to yield to pedestrians.

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

At some point the city has to accept that the current station designs are not safe and changing (under/over passes) them is necessary. It's easy for myself and many others to say 'how stupid do you have to be to get hit by a train?' - But it is clear by now that some genuinely do not understand how these walkways function. I assume they treat it like an roadway cross walk, where it is customary for cars to yield to pedestrians.

I can't tell if I agree with this.

People need to take some responsibility for their own safety.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Here in Shanghai we seemed to go through a bit of a period with people choosing to commit suicide by jumping in front of trains. Now nearly all the stations in the city have walls on the platforms that close off the tracks and open only when the train has arrived. With over 400 stations, I don't think there's one where people need to walk across tracks either. Where there's a need and a will, there's a way.

Well China can print money

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

At some point the city has to accept that the current station designs are not safe and changing (under/over passes) them is necessary. It's easy for myself and many others to say 'how stupid do you have to be to get hit by a train?' - But it is clear by now that some genuinely do not understand how these walkways function. I assume they treat it like an roadway cross walk, where it is customary for cars to yield to pedestrians.

Originally Posted by Kavvy

I can't tell if I agree with this.

People need to take some responsibility for their own safety.

They do, but at the same time, this is just going to keep happening over, and over, and over. The question is, is it worth it to put the cost down to make these stations grade separated, or accept the cost of these frequent incidents?

I know for 36 street at least, that line should be grade separated anyway since there would be more gain than just pedestrian safety alone.

I don't know how much locked gates would help, but it's probably something to be seriously considered, if it hasn't been already. It can't be fully locked though, since it would need to be something you can open from inside the track side. You don't want to trap the pedestrian from getting hit by the train after all.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Kavvy

I can't tell if I agree with this.

People need to take some responsibility for their own safety.

They do, but the punishment for being distracted on your way to or from work shouldn't be death.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by nik-

They do, but the punishment for being distracted on your way to or from work shouldn't be death.

Sorry, can't say I agree. If you are walking around in public distracted, a very likely outcome is death. I believe that vehicles yielding the right-of-way to pedestrians has corrupted the natural instincts of people to be self-aware.

Amsterdam is a good example of putting the onus back on the individual. There are bikes, and vehicles everywhere and if you aren't paying attention, you will get hit. They have LRVs slightly smaller than our C-train, that run straight up the middle of pedestrian boulevards (similar to 8th Ave), and I haven't heard of any locals getting hit by trains.

[Northendzone]

^ but if you are distracted as a driver the result could be death. be it yours or someone else's.

in the video posted above, whose is it the cities fault that guy blew by everyone else to walk across the tracks?