Bus-train crash memorial park will be built at Fallowfield station

Barrhaven councillor Jan Harder says a memorial park for the victims of the 2013 bus-train crash will be built in a quiet corner of the Fallowfield Park and Ride.

Harder told reporters after Wednesday morning's city council meeting that a local architect has designed a park with six distinct sections to honour the six people killed when an OC Transpo bus collided with a Via Rail train on Sept. 18, 2013.

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"I think it's a very appropriate memorial," she said.

"This will give a space where you can walk about, we're hoping to have… some kind of plaque that will tell the story. The story is more than just about the people who passed away. It's a story about 91 people from Barrhaven specifically who were on one bus that were involved in a tragedy."

Harder said it's important to the families and the community to have a proper place to gather.

"On a special day, one of the relatives wanted to be close to their lost loved one and they just wanted to go lay a flower at the track where it happened. They couldn't get close to it, the buses were going, the Via people still have people walking the trains across at that location, they said 'you can't be here,'"

"They need a place to be close. This place has screening, that natural hedgerow that doesn't need to be planted, and it's the closest point that they could be safely and also have protection and privacy."

Harder said the project has a budget of $125,000 and they're thinking of opening it around Thanksgiving, purposefully avoiding the two-year anniversary because of how hard that day is on many of the families.