20 January 2011

Prevent Rail Yard Deaths with Fences Sister Says

Regina Saskatchewan - It didn't take long this week for the events of 2 Dec 2006 to come rushing back to Natasha Wesaquate.
 
It was on that date that her 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was killed after being hit by a train in the Canadian Pacific rail yard just north of Casino Regina.
 
Early Monday morning, the remains of a 24-year-old woman were found just to the east of where Nathan was found. She was apparently dragged by a train after crawling underneath while it was temporarily stopped.
 
As that incident brought back memories of her brother's death, Natasha Wesaquate is looking to CP in hopes that more fencing can be erected in the area to keep people out of the yards.
 
While waiting to hear back from the company, Wesaquate is documenting areas along the line where there is no fencing and plans to start a Facebook group to garner support for her ideas.
 
"If they're so worried about people trespassing and there's these people dying on these tracks, there could be a fence there to prevent lives from being taken," she said.
 
When he died, Nathan Wesaquate was getting set to graduate from SIAST with a certificate in graphic design and was ready to start a career.
 
But on that day, Natasha Wesaquate admits, her brother was drunk and had left a nightclub on Dewdney Avenue when he made the "dumb mistake" of trying to cut through the rail yard to get to the casino.
 
"He had his whole life ahead of him," said Natasha. "He had so much in his life that was really good for him and it was taken away by one stupid decision to go through the train yard that night."
 
But at the same time, Natasha wishes that fences would have completely eliminated the option for that "stupid decision."
 
While most of the area around the rail yard in downtown Regina is fenced off, there are areas that are not. Further to the east, including the spot at 8th Avenue and Broder Street where police were first called to on Monday, there is no fencing.
 
There are "No trespassing" signs posted in several spots along the tracks.
 
CP spokesman Kevin Hrysak noted that safety can't be only the railway's responsibility. Communities have to take some of it as well and individuals need to refrain from trespassing.
 
"We're not obligated from a regulatory perspective to put fencing up much like a private property owner," said Hrysak, adding that it would be difficult to fence in all 25,800 kilometres of CP track across the country.
 
"We do take measures to deter this types of trespassing. Obviously we have our own police force who do patrols, we have employees who are very vigilant at reporting trespassing, and we go out and do education blitzes at different schools."
 
While CP puts up fencing where it feels it is necessary, municipalities can also request more if they feel that is appropriate.
 
Tom O'Connell, manager of traffic and parking for the City of Regina, said it normally puts up fencing around railways near high-speed roads and as extra safety precautions in areas where an anti-whistling bylaw is in effect.
 
In other areas, O'Connell said, the city has usually looked to the railroad companies to take care of fencing.
 
According to Operation Lifesaver, which logs accident statistics on railroads in Canada, from January to November 2010 (December statistics are not yet available) there were 77 accidents involving trespassers across the country, 59 of which resulted in fatalities.
 
Only three of those accidents and two fatalities occurred in Saskatchewan.
 
Hrysak noted that fencing will only go so far to prevent such incidents.
 
"Not to knock that fencing might actually help deter a bit of that activity, but if people are going to trespass, they're going to trespass," said Hrysak. "We have fencing in numerous areas that people just cut down, vandalize, and at the end of the day, we're on the hook to make all these repairs."
 
Natasha Wesaquate, however, doesn't believe that is the case and some looking to cut across train tracks will turn away from a fence, but not from a "No trespassing" sign.
 
"People do stupid things," she said. "And if they would just put one preventative measure in place, that would stop people from trespassing. What is it doing for the people that work for them having to see these gruesome things? My brother's leg was severed. What was it like for the people that find them? They could be helping their employees too. They wouldn't have to go through things like this and see things like that."
 
Tim Switzer.