The death of a woman on the CP tracks separating Plateau and Rosemont boroughs early this month is described here as angering people who want a level crossing near there, and have been asking for one for years, while people commonly cross through holes in the fencing.
Not to cast shade on the incident, but I’ve crossed there, and seen trains go through there. We’re not talking about a TGV or a bullet train. They’re heavy freight trains. You don’t only hear them but feel them coming from a distance. How an apparently able‑bodied person (there’s nothing in the story about her having any disability) was able to get hit by a train on those tracks by daylight puzzles me. If you were setting out to cross, you could not miss the fact that a freight train was bearing down on you.
Blork 17:58 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
It’s a mystery to me how this happened. I used to work on railroad documents, including safety and whatnot, and have read many accounts of things like this, and you’d be surprised how often it happens.
It usually comes down to a lack of basic awareness on the part of the victim, such as walking along tracks while wearing headphones or earbuds, thinking they’ll see a train coming because they’re looking straight ahead but it doesn’t occur to them that the train could come from behind. (Yes, that happens.) But I doubt that’s the case here.
The only scenario I can think of is that a train was parked on one set of tracks, and the woman crossed in front of the parked train and right into the path of a train approaching on the other track — as in, the parked train obscured her view. The timing in order for that to happen is so precise as to defy belief, but again, this has been known to happen. (This is essentially the same scenario as the jogger who was killed crossing Ave. du Parc a few years ago; she jogged in front of a parked bus and right into the path of an approaching vehicle that was blowing through a red light. If she had been two seconds slower or faster it wouldn’t have happened. The bad luck of precise timing.)
Kate 18:07 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
There are signs on level pedestrian crossings, like the one in Jarry Park, with a graphic that warns you that there are two sets of track. Trains don’t usually pause on those tracks normally, but even so, you’re made aware that it’s not safe to pass around a stopped train without checking the second track.
Freight trains do sometimes stop on the CP tracks in that story, so I suppose it’s possible that a stationary train could account for the accident.
DeWolf 18:16 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
I’m also mystified as to how this could have happened. But it doesn’t change the fact that hundreds of people cross daily without any incident.
Unfortunately, the Canadian Transport Agency ruled against level crossings in Mile End. CP is obliged to allow the city to build crossings at St-Dominique and Henri-Julien, but they must either be underpasses or overpasses, which are expensive, space intensive and not nearly as pleasant as a level crossing.
There will be a surface crossing further west at de l’Épée though.
https://otc-cta.gc.ca/node/568707
GC 19:55 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
I’m also perplexed about it. It really is not that far for an able-bodied person, as you say, and–assuming you are not impaired in those senses–you can see and hear it coming from a long way away. A parked train on one track might explain it, but I can’t recall ever seeing a train parked in that stretch the whole time I’ve lived around here. That being said, there was mention in the article of CP “sometimes [storing] empty rail cars there”, so maybe I’ve just missed it.
I was wondering if maybe she heard it, but didn’t see it yet, and thought “I can make it…” I was wondering if more would come out about this story, after we discussed it at the beginning of the month, but I suppose that would require a witness to have been there.
Kate 20:03 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
GC, I’ve seen a train stopped along there, because I climbed over it. Yes, I know.
GC 21:24 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
Kate, I’m also a bit surprised that there are up to nine trains per day. I would have guessed fewer, so apparently I don’t go by there enough to really judge what’s normal and what’s not.
walkerp 21:27 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
Equally perplexed here. Pure speculation, but I was wondering if maybe she slipped and sprained her ankle or it got stuck somehow. Anyhow, I think we all agree it would be nice to have a bit more explanation on what actually happened.
Kate 21:54 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
GC, I think some may run overnight, which might explain why it’s not often you’ll see one. You can pass there often and yet never see a train go by.
Alex 22:08 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
I live right by the tracks, you get some around 9am, lunchtime, 6pm, 9pm and oftentimes in the middle of the night
Alex 22:15 on 2022-02-19 Permalink
And speculating on how it happened, there are a lot of people who will stroll down the tracks and hang out, I have even seen people skiing down there or walking their dogs (which they probably wouldn’t do if they knew how much herbicide the CP spray down there)
Daniel D 09:32 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
“These [raised walkway] projects are not part of the City’s short-term planning, due to their complexity and the costs associated with the creation of such infrastructures,”
I disagree. Here’s an example from the U.K., where Network Rail have built an affordable pedestrian bridge: https://youtu.be/cJTMOft_2nM
GC 10:41 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
Thanks, Alex. I live a very short walk away, but just far enough that I can’t really hear them over all the St-Denis car traffic. And my windows all face in the opposite direction.
I looked at some of the online photos in that Clayton Bailey project and they definitely show people who just seem to be lingering on the tracks. That is…questionable behaviour, but I suppose some would say the same about just scampering over them and I’ve been guilty of that a few times. The story of this woman who was recently killed, however, suggests she was on a work errand. And in the middle of winter, to boot. You’d think she’d just be looking to get over to the other side ASAP, but I guess we’ll never know for sure.
Meezly 11:50 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
We’ve had a similar discussion some years before when another local person was killed by a train and s/he was also wearing earphones, though I don’t know whether this poor woman was wearing them or not. I recall trying to look up similar accidents because I couldn’t comprehend how people could be so careless, esp. when using earphones and you’d be surprised!
I remember reading about how one person died falling into a subway track because they walked in between two cars by mistake instead of entering through the door. Quite a few didn’t even notice when the train conductor was blasting his horn before hitting them.
There have been studies done about this “inattentional blindness” and the rise of pedestrian deaths related to device use and earphones.
Blork 12:13 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
Meezly, that last case — where the person fell between the Metro cars — was a result of her looking at her phone instead of watching where she was going (no so much about earphones). That led to questions about if the same thing could happen to vision-impaired people. It’s moot now with the new Metro cars but some of the old trains are still in use.
Meezly 12:44 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
@Blork, that’s right. Whether it’s listening or looking, it’s all device-related and it puts you in a “device bubble” that impairs you from being aware of your physical surroundings.
Bert 22:09 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
Sorry to be unsympathetic, but the person seems to have been in a place they should not have been. There was no crossing or whatever. I saw the changes that the AMT that happened after the “kid” died at the Bois-Franc station +- 4 more years ago, but that was crossing the double tracks on a pedestrian crossing.
Is this a real-life of the trolley dilemma question?
walkerp 23:04 on 2022-02-20 Permalink
Bert, the railway is a gigantic barrier between two contiguous neighbourhoods with many reasons to cross between. It forces you to walk multiple blocks out of your way, often doubling back if your destination is just on the other side. Furthermore, the two underpasses where you can “legally” cross at St-Denis and St-Laurent are unpleasant at best and dangerous and scary at night. There are reasons people are constantly cutting holes in the fences the length between St-Laurent and St-Denis.
Blork 11:07 on 2022-02-21 Permalink
It should also be added that people have been cutting through that fence and short-cutting across those tracks for decades. That doesn’t make it right, but it does provide some context that this isn’t a case of a few wayward people “going where they’re not supposed to be.” There’s a steady stream of people going through there every day. I used to do it in 1990-92 when I lived on St-Laurent near Bernard; that was the quickest way to get to Rosemont Metro station.