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Many killed by trains each year

Operation Lifesaver, financed by a number of groups, gathers statistics as part of a campaign to save lives.
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OPERATION Lifesaver is a national organization in Canada which makes presentation and publishes information on rail safety.

THE deaths of two people struck by trains here at the end of August while trying to cross the CN rail yard dividing the city will be among the nearly 130 people killed each year on average at highway/rail crossings or while trespassing, indicate statistics gathered by a non-profit agency.

Operation Lifesaver, financed by a number of parties including railway companies, the federal government and police forces, gathers the statistics as part of a campaign to save lives.

In 2015 alone, Operation Lifesaver recorded 33 trespasser fatalities and 21 serious injuries from 55 accidents across Canada. Of those accidents, there were eight fatalities in B.C. and six serious injuries from 13 accidents, the second highest total of all the provinces with the exception of Ontario.

To the end of July this year, across Canada, there have been 32 accidents involving trespassers on train tracks resulting in 19 deaths and 11 serious injuries.

Of those totals, 10 of those accidents have been in B.C. with five fatalities and three people suffering serious injuries.

And again, that’s the second highest total of all the provinces with the exception of Ontario.

Aside from the two deaths in August, the last known death in this area in which a person was killed by a train occurred in 2010.

On October 10, 2010 a person on the tracks about 12km from Terrace along the Old Kitselas Road was struck by a train travelling west.

Crew members said they saw a male entering what CN calls “track space” and while they put on emergency brakes and used a horn, the accident could not be avoided.

And there have been several cases in the past several decades of unauthorized people being injured in CN’s rail yard here.