INNISFAIL - Following repeated "super dangerous" games of chicken with trains by young school children, the town is redoubling its efforts to end the potentially deadly activity at a popular unregulated railway crossing area near the schools campus.
"It's mind boggling what these kids are doing, How long can you keep continuing to do that?''' said Mayor Jim Romane. "It's a very serious situation. We have got to do something.
"It's obvious education is not working," he added. "If anything it's making it more the thing to do. Trying to do it through education is not going to work."
Disturbing details of near-fatal chicken game incidents were released last week by town and local RCMP officials following a serious rail track incident three weeks ago at an unregulated crossing area called White Rock Crossing, located near the intersection of 52nd and 54th avenues. According to local RCMP and emergency service officials, the crossing area is illegally accessed by Innisfailians, mostly school children, up to 200 times each school day.
A train passes by the area where children cross the tracks on their way to and from school on June 25. Noel West/MVP Staff
"Some kids said they saw kids start to go under the train when it had stopped. Super dangerous. They were yelling at the kids, 'don't do that. That's dangerous,''' said Innisfail RCMP Const. Craig Nelson, the detachment's school resource officer.
"When they saw the kids were going to go they turned and ran away because they did not know what to do. They were scared," he added, noting the children could have easily been killed in front of friends. "In front of all of their friends. Can you imagine that? I can't imagine that. That would be one of the most terrible things I have seen in 15 years of police work."
Nelson said there has been at least half a dozen documented serious incidents since last September, with the ages of children involved being between seven and 11-yeaars-old. While there has been no fatalities or injuries to date there has been an escalation in the level of danger, from just "playing" around the trains by the tracks, to tagging with moving trains, and most alarming of all - the chicken game.
"One kid was literally running across the train tracks right in front of the train," said Nelson of an incident last March that was caught on video. "The child ran in front of the train and I thought, 'whew, that was close' but then turned around and ran back. I was like, 'oh my God if this child trips and falls this child will die in front of all these other kids standing on the side watching. There were other elementary school kids, three of four, watching this."
It was a serious close call that led to a full Canadian Pacific (CP) Police investigation. That incident, along with others, also triggered a new sense of urgency with council, and even with many local youth, to have the disturbing phenomenon at the unregulated crossing aggressively addressed.
"I think it (chicken game) is stupid and maybe they should put, not a bridge, a safer way, like a go sign or stop sign, or maybe they (students) should have some common sense and not play chicken with the trains at all," said one 13-year-old Grade 8 student from Innisfail Middle School (IMS) following classes on June 25. Many students said while they admit to illegally using the crossing because it's more convenient to get home they are shocked with the increasing number of chicken games being played out.
Children cross an unregulated portion of railway track at a spot known as White Rock Crossing. Noel West/MVP Staff
"I think it is dangerous and it should not be happening. I thought it was very sad and upsetting," said a 12-year-old Grade 6 student from IMS, adding a more secure pedestrian crossing area should be built. "It would be a lot safer for children."
On June 24 town council was publicly presented with a verbal staff report that laid out the chilling potentially deadly train track incidents being played out since the start of the 2018/19 school year.
"There has been a number of close calls, the first being in March of this year what is best described as children playing chicken with the train," said Gary Leith, the town's manager for fire and protective services who produced the report to council. He said when children are caught and challenged about why they are playing such a dangerous game he was told, "We did it because everybody else is doing it."
Leith said the town will continue talks about solutions with key stakeholders, including CP, Transport Canada, RCMP and local schools.
In early May, a group of four CP police officers attended Innisfail Middle School and École John Wilson Elementary School over two days to educate students and express their concerns about the dangerous activities taking place along the railways tracks. Parents were invited to give their feedback on the second day of CP Police presentations.
"(Parents) were upset because they felt this was an issue that should have been addressed a long time ago. That was the impression I got from that group," said Nelson. "Less than a week after we did those talks we had reports of young people playing on the tracks again."
Another CP Police presentation is planned in the 2019/20 school year with grades 5 and 6 students at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School, confirmed a spokesperson with Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools.
"Rail safety is a shared responsibility in which the community plays a key role. CP continues to work closely with all stakeholders to address these significant safety concerns," said Salem Woodrow, a CP spokesperson in a prepared statement. "Just like how we speak to children about safely crossing the street, they should know how to safely interact with railway property."
Her statement added CP will continue to work with the Town of Innisfail to address these concerns. In a follow-up interview Woodrow said she had "nothing to add" on whether the company presented the town with an infrastructure proposal for the White Rock Crossing area that would lead to the elimination of the current dangerous activities.
A child crosses railway tracks near the intersection of 52nd and 54th avenues on June 25. Noel West/MVP Staff
However, Romane said the town is "definitely serious" about looking at options to address the ever present danger at White Rock Crossing, including a pedestrian-controlled crossing system that was reportedly designed by CP and now used in Canmore,
He said for it to be a workable solution the entire track area from 42nd Street to Main Street would have to be fenced off.
Romane said final cost figures, which would be covered entirely by the town, have not yet been determined but he estimated it could wind up costing the town several hundred thousands dollars. He did add that while CP will not contribute to any cost the town is looking at provincial and federal grant opportunities that could help with the expense.
Most importantly, he would like to see an acceptable solution in place by the end of the year but added it's an unbudgeted item for the town and sourcing the cost will be left up to staff.
"I don't think it's something that can be left, like OK maybe in a year or two. There is a fair amount of urgency here that we have to deal with," said Romane. "Kids have been crossing that railway track for 20 or 30 years ever since there has been development on the other side. We have got to get a safe way for them to do it."
In the meantime, community leaders are saying the problem at White Rock Crossing is an issue that impacts the entire community, not just the schools campus.
Kurt Sacher, the superintendent of schools for Chinook's Edge School Division, said the public school division would welcome being a stakeholder in ongoing discussions as long as everyone is talking about it from a community perspective.
"Because a lot of times we assume the issue is only with youth and it is not," said Sacher, adding his staff willingly accepts every available opportunity to teach safety. "They had the opportunity with CP doing their usual routine around train safety and we welcomed them in. When it's appropriate, when it's timely that is the approach we take."
As for the RCMP's school resource officer, his immediate community is the hundreds of school children at the Innisfail Schools Campus. Nelson, a highly skilled professional law enforcement officer with 15 years experience, is taking the current rail safety crisis personally.
"These kids are my responsibility. Those are my kids and I take their safety personally. All of them. All 1,503 of them," said Nelson. "I want to make sure that if there is a risk we address it. This is in my mind a risk that needs to be addressed."
Each school day the CP tracks at an area known as White Rock Crossing are illegally crossed by young students to get to classes in the morning and to later come home after school. Noel West/MVP Staff
