Investigation continues into fatal car-CTrain collision in Calgary
Posted Feb 21, 2024 9:13 am.
Last Updated Feb 22, 2024 9:41 am.
Calgary police say they continue to investigate a crash between a car and a CTrain along Deerfoot Trail, which closed the southbound ramp heading onto Memorial Drive for several hours Wednesday and left one man dead.
Calgary police say just before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, officers attended a scene at Memorial Drive on the overpass above Deerfoot Trail NE, for reports of a collision involving a vehicle and a CTrain.
According to investigators, a 48-year-old man was driving a silver 2000 Chrysler Intrepid and went into the path of a CTrain driven by a 70-year-old man, travelling east.
Police say the train hit the front passenger side of the car and pushed it along the track. The driver side of the Chrysler hit a support beam, which caused significant damage to the vehicle.
RELATED: 1 person killed after vehicle hits CTrain
The driver was extricated from the vehicle and taken to hospital where we died, investigators say.
The driver of the CTrain wasn’t hurt and speed or impairment aren’t considered to be factors in the incident.
Calgary Transit’s outbound Blue Line headed to Saddletowne was affected for some time.
Calgary police posted to social media around 1:45 p.m. that southbound Deerfoot Trail NE at Memorial Drive NE was open.
Just before 3 p.m., nearly all lanes of Memorial Drive had reopened to traffic. The left-hand lane on the overpass was still blocked, but drivers heading from westbound Memorial to southbound Deerfoot and southbound Deerfoot to eastbound Memorial were able to get through.
Most lanes now OPEN at Memorial Drive & Deerfoot Trail.
LHL still blocked on overpass, but drivers heading from WB Memorial to SB Deerfoot — and from SB Deerfoot to EB Memorial can now get thru.
All EB lanes open on Memorial as well. #ABRoads #yyctraffic pic.twitter.com/yfEA4fuX3k— CityNews Calgary Traffic (@CityNews660) February 21, 2024
All of eastbound lanes of Memorial Drive were also open as of 3 p.m.
One person was killed and another was injured in a similar Dec. 1, 2023 incident, when a vehicle hit a CTrain at Memorial Drive and Deerfoot Trail.
In that case, the impact of the train pushed the vehicle down an embankment near the CPKC Rail tracks.
In a statement to CityNews, a representative from Calgary’s transportation department said the crash will be investigated.
“As part of our commitment to ensuring the safety of our transit system, we continuously monitor its overall safety performance to assess what needs to be changed or improved,” they said. “We maintain a variety of crossing safety infrastructure throughout our system to ensure a safer environment for all road users; we will be investigating this incident to see whether short term and long term improvements are necessary to enhance safety measures.”
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