27 June 2007
Women Clipped by Train Dies
Maple Ridge British Columbia - A woman struck by a train
Sunday in Maple Ridge has died from her injuries.
The 21-year-old woman from Mission was trying to photograph a Canadian Pacific freight train just west of the West Coast
Express station in the 21900 block of River Road.
RCMP Cpl. Ryan Schlecker said the woman was too close to the train.
She was clipped by the front engine just after 6 p.m.
"She didn't move in time and it hit her," said Schlecker.
Her boyfriend called 911 and the woman was airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster with serious head injuries. She
died later that night.
Police don't know why the woman was taking pictures of the train.
Schlecker said a collision analyst for the RCMP reconstructed and investigated the accident.
Train traffic was affected during the investigation, but River Rd. remained opened.
RCMP remind residents that the area around train tracks is private property.
"It is for safety," Schlecker said. "Being near the tracks can be very dangerous."
Trains travel the 65 kilometres of Canadian Pacific Railway tracks between Mission and downtown Vancouver 24-hours a day,
seven days a week.
A 100-car freight train can weigh 10,000 tonnes or more. Travelling at 80 km/h, it takes about 1,600 meters for a train
to come to a full stop in an emergency.
The Railway Safety Act makes it illegal to enter onto railway property. That includes tracks and rights-of-way, bridges,
yards, equipment, and any other structure built to facilitate railway operations.
A person found guilty of trespassing on railway property can face a fine of up to $10,000, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
one year, or to both.
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