TSB report into 2019 Kitchener collision between GO train and woman, child raises safety concerns

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its report into a 2019 incident in Kitchener, Ont., where a Kitchener woman and Guelph child were struck by a GO train.

The collision occurred at the crossing at Lancaster Street, just north of Victoria Street, on Nov. 13, 2019.

According to the report, a group of 11 people, including a number of children, were waiting for several minutes to cross as a CN train was performing switching operations on the siding track.

The report says this should take no longer than five minutes but in this case, it was past the nine-minute mark when two of the adults, with two of the children, ignored the crossing lights and began to cross the railways.

The group assumed that the lights were only for the CN train, but a GO train was also approaching along the other track.

The first pair made it across the tracks but the second were unable to cross in time and were struck by the oncoming GO train, according to the report.

The pair were airlifted to hospitals in Hamilton with life-threatening injuries but a week later Waterloo regional police reported that they were in stable condition.

The TSB’s report warns that it has concerns about Ontario’s safety oversights of its provincially regulated railways.

It notes that the Ministry of Transportation “has no overall provincial regulatory framework in place and relies on inspection agreements with Transport Canada (TC) and Metrolinx to aid in complying with the standards set out in federal rules and regulations. Moreover, the MTO does not have employees with technical railway knowledge, experience and expertise.”

It also points out that the MTO shares blame with CN, Metrolinx and Waterloo Region as none of them were aware of several observed hazards at the crossing.

Among the hazards noted in the report were the length of time CN trains were taking to conduct their work and the backups being created by the lengthy crossing being near the lights at Victoria and Lancaster streets.

“Given the complexity of multiple separate agreements with different parties, this accident demonstrates that there are gaps in the Province of Ontario’s regulatory surveillance of its provincially regulated railways,” the report read.

It also notes that Metrolinx has made several safety improvements at the crossing since the collision occurred, including dedicated sidewalk pedestrian barrier arms and dynamic LED second-train event signs as well as requiring drivers of second trains to hit the horn as they approach the intersection.