A trespasser walks the track - Date/Photographer unknown.

2 March 2012

Man Survives Brush with Train

Regina Saskatchewan - Despite a close encounter with a moving freight train, a Regina pedestrian has walked away virtually unscathed.
 
But he may still pay a price. Police were investigating Thursday whether or not the 23-year-old man should face a charge of trespassing on railway property.
 
Miraculously, the man was conscious and able to stand on his own two feet when Regina police and paramedics responded at 3:45 a.m. to a report that he had been "clipped" by an oncoming freight train after trying to jump clear, but not quite making it.
 
"Our crew did everything within their means to alert the individual," Canadian Pacific Railway spokesman Kevin Hrysak said. "And I guess they did get his attention at the last second, but did unfortunately make contact with him with a railing on the side of a locomotive."
 
He explained the railing was located on the stairs used to climb onto the locomotive.
 
"The fellow himself said that he was all right and admitted that he had been drinking," Regina police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said. "He was just walking home, and he just wanted to go home. Even after all that, he just wanted to go home," she added.
 
The man walked to the ambulance and was assessed by paramedics. It's unclear where on his body he made contact with the train. "He was transported to hospital with what were described as minor injuries and he was released from hospital," she said.
 
The man had been walking alone down the railroad track west of Park Street near 6th Avenue when he was spotted by the crew of a westbound CPR train.
 
"They sounded off their whistles, had their bell going, and then eventually (used) the train's emergency brake application, but obviously, unfortunately did make contact with the individual," Hrysak said. At that point, the crew called for assistance.
 
He didn't have specific information on the train, but said generally a "container train" in that area would be pulling roughly 100 cars and travelling at a speed of about 15 kilometres per hour. The accident impacted operations only minimally.
 
"In these types of situations, we always give police the proper time to do their investigation before we release that train back for service," he added.
 
Hrysak said the area is within CPR's yard, so the rail company's police officers will be working with local police in investigating for a possible trespassing charge.
 
He occasionally hears about the odd close call, in which people are struck by a train and manage to walk away.
 
"It's definitely something that we want to deter, that type of behaviour, because it can have serious consequences," he added.
 
According to statistics from the Transportation Safety Board, there were 67 "trespasser accidents" with trains across Canada last year, resulting in 45 fatalities and 21 people seriously injured.
 
"We definitely want people to ensure that they don't trespass and they cross at only designated locations that are marked," Hrysak said.
 
A review of Leader Post articles in the last decade shows most people do not walk away unharmed from such collisions, but it's not unheard of.
 
In February last year, an intoxicated Saskatoon man was virtually uninjured after he was hit in that city while walking on the tracks. Similarly, in 2007, an inebriated pedestrian was hit in Regina while walking on the tracks around Winnipeg Street and Ross Avenue. He suffered non-life threatening injuries.
 
Barb Pacholik.