6 October 2010

Track Deaths Bring Back Painful Memories for Revelstoke Engineer

Despite warning signs and the obvious dangers associated with an
encounter with a train, a retired engineer says that incidents are
far too common.

Salmon Arm British Columbia - The deaths of two teens on railway tracks in the region in the past weeks has prompted a retired Revelstoke engineer to come forward to talk about the issue.
 
16-year-old Bradley Jackson died at about 1 a.m. on Sunday, 26 Sep 2010 after being struck by a train near Raven.
 
The incident occurred just four days after 19-year-old Tyrel Goerzen died after he was hit by another train near Canoe Beach.
 
For retired Revelstoke CP engineer James Walford, the incidents immediately brought back painful memories of an incident some years ago when his train struck and killed a man.
 
Walford didn't want details of the incident published, saying he had chosen to speak out to let people know how frequently trains come to near misses with pedestrians, especially youth.
 
Walford also wanted to address online comments blaming train crews for the incidents, saying that aside from sounding the horn, there is next to nothing the crews can do to avert a disaster.
 
"A horn and that's it," says Walford of what can be done in critical incidents. "Just blow the horn."
 
There is an emergency brake available, but even the lightest of trains will still travel for hundreds and hundreds of metres before they stop. Pulling the emergency brake can be dangerous, and in some cases can lead to derailments.
 
Surprisingly, Walford says that anecdotal evidence shows that some people don't seem totally aware that trains can't brake like other vehicles. He recalls a near miss at a level crossing with a woman in an electric scooter. As he looked back, the woman shook her fist at him, as if she'd just been cut off at a crosswalk.
 
Walford, who plied the route from Revelstoke through Salmon Arm for decades, says that incidents of some type or another are far too common.
 
"It seems like every trip you have a close call, and Salmon Arm is the worst," he says.
 
There are all types of incidents. People walk along the tracks. Some cut across the tracks. Cars rush across at level crossings. Others just cut it too close at crossings, or don't seem to notice the trains until the last minute.
 
Over the space of his career, Walford had about 20 critical incidents, including the death, a collision that mangled a truck, and more.
 
He's narrowly avoided groups of people on the tracks several times.
 
In one incident at Canoe, two parents were walking their two kids across the track, with an air mattress in tow. He sounded his horn at the last minute. The mother grabbed one child and jumped to the right, while the father grabbed the other and jumped to the left.
 
Walford is especially concerned about risky behaviour involving youth. Canoe is particularly bad in the summer, he says, as people cross the tracks to get to the lake, and many teens and young adults gather to party.
 
He's seen groups of teens partying on the tracks. Young men gather to play chicken with the trains. Sometimes they cut it so close they literally disappear under the train before reappearing at the side. People sometimes pelt the trains with rocks and bottles.
 
Walford wonders if enough is being done to educate young people about the dangers.
 
He credits CP for bringing in critical incident counsellors to help crews deal with tragedy, saying it helped him following his fatal collision, and other incidents.
 
But it's not just the fatalities that cause grief for the crews. Walford says every close call affects crews who sitting somewhat helplessly at the front of a train weighing thousands of tons. "They just don't know what it does to them," he says.
 
Spotting a pedestrian on the tracks in the distance is always stressful, worries that the individual may be intent on suicide flash through crews' minds.
 
Walford says the actual suicide incidents can haunt you for life. "They just stand there and look at you," he says.
 
He says accusations of speeding or other careless operation of the trains are easily dispelled. Like airplanes, modern trains have complex computerized recorders that detail speed, brake pressure, and even when the horn was blown. "It's not the train crews' fault," he says.
 
And, in his case, there was nothing he could do, but that "doesn't make you feel any better."
 
He hopes a better understanding of the extent of the issue will lead to better awareness and action. "I express my deepest sympathies to the families and the train crews."
 
Aaron Orlando.