29 September 2006
CPR Police Tracking Railway Trespassers
Kenora Ontario - With school back in session, the Canadian
Pacific Railway Police are once again targeting pedestrians using the tracks in Kenora as a transportation route. "We don't want
anyone being struck by a train, causing a fatality," said CPR Police Const. Claude Beaudry on Thursday. "It's the last thing
the community needs."
Beaudry said the CPR Police are now conducting a zero tolerance enforcement blitz for those using the railway yard as a means to get to
the other side of town. He said a number of high school students are again using the tracks to get to Fourteenth Avenue North and on to
Beaver Brae High School, prompting the enforcement blitz. As a result, they have issued several tickets since last week. "We have
been charging students and adults with trespassing," said Beaudry. He explained the trespassing charge comes under the
federally-regulated Railway Safety Act and includes a ticket for a $120 fine.
The fine may be steep, but Beaudry said they must get the message out there that using the railway as a pedestrian route is not only
illegal, but very dangerous and often fatal. "No one has a good excuse to be on the railway tracks," said Beaudry.
He noted that in Kenora, there is a pedestrian walkway over the tracks, as well as several other safe routes to get to and from the
north end of the city, without using the railway. In Ontario alone there were 20 deaths this year as of the end of August, said Beaudry,
and all were the result of pedestrians being hit by trains.
He said trains can come upon pedestrians very quickly and in Kenora the CPR Police have even found some young trespassers wearing stereo
headphones while they were walking along the tracks. "That's certainly increasing the risk of being struck by a train," said
Beaudry.
In an effort to maintain compliance throughout the year, Beaudry said the Kenora Police and the Ontario Provincial Police will be
monitoring the popular areas where people cross the tracks. In addition, he said the message has been relayed to the principals of
schools in the city. "They don't want their students being struck by trains either," said Beaudry.
He referred to the tragic accident in Wabigoon in February that claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy, when the sled he
was riding in - which was being pulled by a snowmobile - was struck by a train. Beaudry was in the small community east of Dryden this
summer and noted the residents there are still suffering from the unnecessary loss. "The same could happen out here with people
walking on the tracks," said Beaudry.
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