Six injured as construction crane hits light-rail transit train in Calgary

The mid-morning accident occurred when the boom arm of the mobile crane punched through the front window on the driver's side of the train. The impact left a gaping hole and caused the train to derail as it ground to a screeching halt.

"I was reading my book. The driver honked the horn, slammed on the brakes and the train goes squish," recalled passenger Brian Walker.

There was no screaming or panic, said Walker, who described how about three dozen passengers on what is known in Calgary as the C-Train went flying.

He said it all happened quickly.

"Not much (was going through my head). Stuff happens. I used to be with search and rescue and I've seen this from the other side often enough."

"Everyone basically just grabbed their cellphones, called 911 and made sure everybody was OK."

Paramedics assessed 36 people who were on the three-car transit train. Six people, including the train's driver and a 10-year-old girl who may have hurt her ribs, were taken to hospital, but none of the injuries was considered life-threatening. One woman was believed to have broken a hip.

The train can reach speeds up to 80 kilometres an hour.

"Considering the train did derail and depending on the volume of passengers that could have been on the train, and if it were a different time of day, things could have been substantially worse," said Stuart Brideaux of Calgary Emergency Medical Services.

"The driver as well as a patient we took sustained the brunt of the collision because it was at the front of the train, but even he is in stable condition at this point in time."

Police, fire and emergency services personnel used ladders to help the remaining passengers off the train and onto a waiting bus.

The accident occurred between the Brentwood and Dalhousie stations in the city's northwest and reduced traffic on Crowchild Trail, a major thoroughfare, to a crawl.

The crane belonged to Enmax, a Calgary utility company, that was scheduled to do some work on the line at 10:30 a.m. The accident occurred about 15 minutes earlier.

"All I can say at this point is there was a miscommunication as to whether or not the boom was supposed to be over the track when the train hit it," said Sgt. Jorge Gottschling of the Calgary Police Service.

"I would say it's unlikely that there will be any criminal charges from the police end. I imagine it would be something that occupational health and safety and their own departments look at as far as the people involved will be dealt with."

Deb Bergeson of the Calgary Fire Department said the boom truck was there to pull cable. "They had requested a lane closure, which is also deemed a signal lockout, and that was authorized for 10:30 a.m."

The truck and crane remained anchored where the collision occurred. Deep scratches were clearly visible on the boom from where the train scraped along it.

"If you look at the distance from where the boom is - which is where contact was made - and where the train stopped, you can see how fast it was going," Bergeson said. "The train is travelling about 80 kilometres an hour, so we can see it was quite an abrupt halt."

The track was expected to take a couple of days to repair. A second track running parallel to the damaged one was still in use.

It was the second accident in Calgary this summer involving an industrial crane.

In July, a 34-year-old man was seriously injured after he became trapped beneath a crane's wheels. Garry Parsons, a crane operator himself, had stepped off a bus and was walking to his job when he was struck, dragged and then pinned under a mobile unit.

He was dragged almost five metres and was pinned at the pelvis.