BANFF – A woman was killed by a train in Banff while walking on the Canadian Pacific tracks Thursday (Dec. 29), according to police.
Banff RCMP and CP police said they responded to a woman that was struck by a train and she was declared deceased at the scene. An RCMP collision reconstruction team was called in and the line was cleared.
Police said the woman, 19, was walking west on CP’s main line in Banff when a CP intermodal container train hit her.
“The female was believed to be wearing earbuds at the time of the incident, which may have contributed to failing to hear the approaching train,” RCMP said in a media release.
According to Operation Lifesaver, an organization that promotes public safety in attempting to prevent collisions at railway crossings and stopping railway trespassing, there have been 57 people killed between January and November, 2022 on railway lines. A further 40 people have had serious injuries and there have been 204 incidents involving trains and people.
Alberta has the second highest railway incidents, according to Operation Lifesaver and statistics from Transportation Safety Board of Canada, with 39 in 2022.
Of those, eight incidents have come from trespassing, leading to seven deaths and one person seriously injured. The remaining 31 incidents were crossing incidents and caused eight serious injuries.
In the past 10 years, statistics show 83 deaths and 43 serious injuries from trespassing incidents and 58 deaths and 92 serious injuries from crossing incidents.
Police are continuing to investigate.
