Calgary Transit to probe C-Train deaths

Officials with Calgary Transit will be meeting with police and transit experts to investigate the recent spate of deaths, including a couple of apparent suicides, on the LRT, a city spokesman says.

Four people have been hit and killed by C-Trains in the last two weeks, and transit officials "believe at least two of them are intentional, based on the video footage and the comments from witnesses and the operator," Mac Logan told CBC News, adding such events are traumatic for the drivers involved.

Logan, the general manager of transportation, said there are good safety measures in place, but little can be done if people deliberately ignore them.

"You know, when you do walk up to the gates you have to do a 90-degree turn and a 90-degree turn to get to the track and so it's a very intentional movement. We have bells, we have lights"

The Toronto Transit Commission has several programs that have cut suicide rates there by half,  John O'Grady, the chief safety officer, told CBC News.

Direct telephone lines connecting train platforms and the city's crisis centre have "proved to be a winner," he said. "We've got about, I think, between about 40 and 50 calls so far since June and the distress centre thinks about half  were in a fairly significant crisis."

Calgary Transit recently finished a regularly scheduled safety audit; the report should be ready in a few weeks.