Hand-held device distracted C-Train victim, police say

A hand-held device may have played a role in the death of a woman struck and killed by a C-Train on Monday, Calgary police say. 

Surveillance footage suggests she was distracted by the device,  police said.

"She was crossing 36th Street in the marked barriers and — despite the signs, the flashing lights, the barriers coming down and the tones — she walked out in front of a C-Train," Sgt. Collin Foster said. Earlier, another police spokesman said several people had crossed safely just before the woman was struck near 8 a.m. south of the Whitehorn LRT station.

Stuart Brideaux, with Calgary EMS, said the commuter was rushed to Foothills Medical Centre in critical condition, where she succumbed to her injuries. She has not yet been identified and there are no other details at this time.

Paramedics had earlier said they believed the victim to be in her 20s.

Northbound C-Trains were shut down at 32nd Avenue temporarily, but the line is now running as normal. Shuttle buses were called in to help ferry passengers to stops north of 32nd Avenue. 

Fatalities worrisome

Calgary Transit officials said in September they would launch an investigation into a spate of recent LRT-related deaths.

Five people have now been killed by C-Trains within the past three months, at least two of which were believed to be suicides. Four people have died at the Whitehorn station alone in the last 18 months, which doesn't surprise some transit users who say it can be a tricky crossing to navigate.

"The lights aren't always matching up either if you have to cross there, so you have to make sure that you are watching all the time," said G-Lynn Hockley.

Stacie Versh takes the train home at night after work and feels there has been a lot of accidents at that station. "I just feel like, 'Am I going to get run over today?' " she said.

This latest C-Train death brought back painful memories for Jeannie Evans, whose brother was struck and killed by a C-Train at the Lions Park LRT station in July while riding his bike to work.

Evans believes the city should be doing more to prevent such accidents.

"Having pedestrians cross C-Train lines where the trains are going so quickly, it's just a dangerous thing," she said. "Our city has expanded so much since they were put down that it just seems that the city hasn't done enought to mitigate the loss of life in these circumstances."

There have been 66 C-Train deaths since Calgary brought in the LRT in 1981.