RCMP and CN officials are continuing to investigate how an 18-year-old Bowden woman hit by a train in Olds on Sunday, Aug. 3 came to be on the tracks.Police and CP officials met Wednesday to discuss the matter.The accident occurred at about 3 a.m. near 50th Avenue and Shannon Drive in Olds. Police, fire and ambulance personnel responded.Olds RCMP say the woman and her boyfriend were sitting on the tracks at the time. The woman was hit. She was transported to Olds Hospital and Care Centre with head injuries, then transferred to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary via STARS Air Ambulance. Her injuries were believed to be serious, but non-life-threatening at that time.Olds Staff Sgt. Joe Sangster says it's his understanding that as of Aug. 6, she remained in hospital.“The train engineer saw the two subjects on the tracks and blew the horn to warn them of the oncoming train and the two began to move out of the way, but the female was struck by the front step of the train,” Olds RCMP say.That step leads up to the control room on the front motor coach.The train was stopped and emergency crews were contacted.Police say both the woman and her boyfriend were intoxicated at the time.Train movement along the tracks was suspended for a while but has since resumed.CP Rail Spokesman Andy Cummings says the investigation into the accident is focusing on “how this individual came to be on the tracks.”“Railroad property is private property and the only legal place to cross a rail line is at a marked grade crossing,” he says.Cummings says CP Rail is “focused on educating the public about the dangers of being on railroad lines” and to that end, has developed the Operation Lifesaver program, which educates Canadians about the dangers of going on rail property, etc.Cummings says a train engineer can apply the emergency brake “at the flip of a switch” but because of the size and weight of the train, not to mention its speed, “it can take a freight train two kilometres or more to come to a complete stop.”Cummings says collisions like this are not only horrific for victims and their families but also for the railroad employees involved.“Railroad employees are the first people on-scene in events like these and it can be traumatic for them,” he says, adding employees involved in incidents like the Aug. 3 train accident are offered critical stress counselling and time off in order to deal with their issues.
