More than 20 crashes on Valley Line train since southeast LRT leg opened

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Edmonton’s Valley Line train has been involved in more than 20 crashes since the southeast leg opened to riders last November.

Trains collided with vehicles at least 18 times since the line opened Nov. 4, new data provided by the city shows. Pedestrians and cyclists were struck by a train, or ran into the train themselves, five times since it opened to riders. Trains were derailed by collisions with motor vehicles at least twice.

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Two crashes alone happened on the line operated by TransEd this week — one involving a semi-truck, the other a cyclist. Both the semi-truck driver and cyclist made illegal right turns at red lights into the trains’s path, police say.

The City of Edmonton did not make a spokesperson available for an interview by deadline. But Ryan Birch, director for Edmonton Transit Service’s (ETS) bus and security operations, wrote in an email late Tuesday the city and TransEd are working together, and the police, to investigate the crashes.

But the city isn’t considering any safety changes right now, Birch said.

“Valley Line Southeast LRT is a low-floor transit system designed to fit into surrounding neighbourhoods. This means there are no crossing arms, gates or bells at intersections,” he wrote.

“This style of low-floor LRT is common in many other cities. Drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are expected to share the road with Valley Line trains. The City is confident people will continue to effectively and safely adjust to the new system if they obey the rules of the road, as well as all posted signs and signals, particularly those at intersections.”

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‘See where else we can do better’

Two city councillors repeated the city’s messaging around following the rules of the road, noting it may take time for the public to get used to the train.

“When you have a massive transformational project like the LRT at the scale and scope of Valley Line where it’s above ground that is different than the other RT lines that we have, it is going to take a pretty significant shift in our day to day,” said Ward Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang.

“Not running red lights, not stopping on tracks and paying attention when they’re in those areas: I think that’s a really important message that we need to continue to communicate as people get used to the line,” said Ward Métis Coun, Ashley Salvador.

Asked whether the current safety features are enough, Tang said she expects the city to investigate and analyze the most recent crashes, adding there’s always room to learn and improve.

“I think even from the last two there’s going to be some debrief and analysis, investigation, as well to see where else we can do better,” she said. “At the end of the day, absolutely we can always learn from each and every incident, and this is something we’re going to continue to learn from and improve.”

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But collisions with public infrastructure are common, said Tang. For instance, a driver went past the crossing arms and was hit by the Capital Line LRT not long ago.

“But I also think it takes everybody to make that difference. We can put measures in place, but we’ve also seen what those measures are in place incidents still happen,” she said.

“We have trucks that sometimes hit the High Level Bridge. We didn’t necessarily make significant adjustments, but we had to work through that, and I think we can get there (with Valley Line).”

Salvador, who said collisions of any type are “very alarming,” said she regularly asks municipal staff questions about the Valley Line and she’s prepared to ask more around if there’s needed to make signage more visible to drivers.

There are thousands of other types of collisions in the city every year, Salvador pointed out. Edmonton’s latest traffic safety report for the “Vision Zero” project counted more than 17,000 motor vehicle crashes in 2021.

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

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