Safety along Valley Line Southeast LRT top of mind after 2 collisions this week

Monday Enymeke described his commute from school Tuesday as disastrous.

Enymeke, who lives in the Mill Woods area of southeast Edmonton, rides the Valley Line LRT to and from school downtown every day, he said.

But on Tuesday afternoon, he and other transit riders were stranded in Bonnie Doon after a Valley Line train collided with a truck further south along the line, interrupting service.

He recalled that, before boarding the LRT, the conductor announced the train would stop at Bonnie Doon and a bus would drive them to Mill Woods Town Centre, the end of the Valley Line route. But when passengers arrived, some waited an hour for a jam-packed bus to show up.

"It was really frustrating," he said.

Two collisions occurred along the Valley Line LRT route earlier this week, within 24 hours.

A cyclist was hit late Monday afternoon near 83rd Street and Whyte Avenue. The following morning, someone was sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after a semi-trailer struck the train near Whitemud Drive and 75th Street.

Contingency bus service was implemented after both incidents. Service on the Valley Line LRT resumed Tuesday between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., said Ryan Birch, Edmonton Transit Service director of bus and security operations, in an email sent by a spokesperson.

Nine buses were made available after Tuesday's crash. Upon review, Birch said, those buses did not meet the need to transport riders in a timely way, and more support staff were needed to help direct affected riders.

The transit service will apply lessons learned from this to use in its bus support plans in the future, he said.

Collisions along the Valley Line Southeast LRT, which runs south from downtown to Mill Woods, have not been uncommon since it opened less than 11 months ago.

Unlike the Capital and Metro lines, the Valley Line runs mostly at street level.

The city has recorded 23 total collisions along the line — 18 with vehicles and five with pedestrians and cyclists — since the line started operating on Nov. 4, 2023, according to Birch.

Capital and Metro line trains, meanwhile, have had three collisions so far this year, according to the city.

"It's worrisome when we've had a couple of collisions in a row," said Ward Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang.

"We have to figure out how can we mitigate these [safety] challenges moving forward," she said.

There are fewer safety arms along the Valley Line route, compared to the city's other lines.

The city, Birch said, is not considering further safety measures such as crossing arms. Tang noted that safety arms have not always prevented collisions on the other lines.

The city has bolstered safety measures on the Valley Line, such as more signage, with each incident, she said.