YORKTON, Sask. — Nearly 300 rail-related collisions occur in Canada each year, Yorkton city council heard during a presentation marking Railway Safety Week.
Sgt. Hank Neumiller, second-in-command of CN Police's Mountain Division, addressed council Sept. 21 as part of Railway Safety Week, which runs Sept. 21-27. The annual campaign promotes safe behaviour around trains, railway property and crossings.
A longtime Yorkton resident, Neumiller spent 10 years serving with the RCMP in Yorkton before retiring in 2017 and joining CN Police. He now helps oversee operations across Alberta and Saskatchewan and serves as co-chair of Operation Lifesaver Saskatchewan, a national rail safety education program.
Neumiller said the 10-year national average for rail-related incidents and collisions is approximately 300 per year.
"That's almost one a day," he said.
Reducing those numbers remains a key priority for CN Police.
"Most of those collisions, at least from my experience in the nine and a half years I've been with CN, are driver error," Neumiller said.
He cited motorists ignoring crossing signs and signals, driving too fast for conditions, attempting to beat trains and distracted driving as common causes.
"They're preventable," he said. "We're humans, yes, but railway-related collisions are preventable."
Mayor Aaron Kienle said the presentation provided valuable insight into railway safety requirements, including the role train horns play in protecting motorists and pedestrians at crossings, despite the occasional complaints from residents.
"There was a lot of good takeaways," Kienle said. "I think he explained it very well that there are rules and legislation around safety and the need for a certain amount of horns to be sounded."
Kienle said train crews must follow federally mandated procedures when approaching crossings and are required to sound their horns in accordance with those rules.
"My understanding from what we heard today is that they try not to go above and beyond that, but certainly it is a part of rail safety," he said.
The mayor said the presentation also highlighted the importance of public awareness, noting incidents continue to occur both nationally and closer to home.
"It provided a lot of information around the safety that we need to find as there are a significant amount of incidents that happen throughout Canada and in our area over the last little while," he said.
Kienle pointed to areas near the skateboard park and Darlington Street as locations where people have been observed walking on or near railway tracks.
"Those are two areas that have been identified as places where pedestrians or people are sometimes out walking near or on the tracks," he said. "That is trespassing and obviously a safety concern."
He encouraged parents to speak with their children about the dangers of railway property.
"Please, yourself and your children, make sure you are aware that walking on or near the tracks is actually illegal," Kienle said.
Another takeaway for the mayor was learning more about the blue emergency notification signs posted at railway crossings. The signs provide a railway emergency number and location information to help officials respond quickly when a problem is reported.
"There is a blue sign at every railway crossing that gives you a 1-800 number to call if there's a problem and easily identifiable locations to where you are," Kienle said.
"If there is an emergency, instead of calling police or fire, call that number first and then the railway can alert whoever needs to be alerted to come and clear up the situation."
Neumiller said railway safety is closely linked to public safety and requires cooperation from motorists, pedestrians and rail operators alike to prevent avoidable tragedies.
