Driver killed in crash with CTrain on Memorial Drive: police

Calgary police say one person was killed after a crash between a sedan and a CTrain on Wednesday.

The collision happened on Memorial Drive N.E. on the overpass above Deerfoot Trail just before 8:30 a.m. 

The vehicle, a silver 2000 Chrysler Intrepid, was hit by an eastbound CTrain and pushed along the tracks, according to police. 

The collision caused the Chrysler to hit a pole, severing it in half. Portions of the vehicle, including its gas tank and battery, could be seen down the embankment toward Deerfoot Trail.

EMS say one person was extricated from the vehicle by firefighters and was transported to the Foothills Medical Centre in life-threatening condition.

Police confirm the victim was a 48-year-old man.

“As a result of that collision, the driver sustained fatal injuries," said Sgt. Colin Foster.

The collision happened in the same area where a vehicle was hit by a CTrain in December 2023, killing one person.

The crash has closed one lane of southbound Deerfoot at Memorial Drive N.E. and two lanes of Memorial Drive near St. George's Drive N.E.

"That's the third (fatal crash) I can think of the last 12 years at that particular location," said Sgt. Colin Foster.

"We will have moments in time where a particular location will become a hotspot for no particular reason… there's nothing engineering-wise that needs to be done, there's nothing in terms of enforcement that needs to be done, because these are one-offs, for lack of a better description."

"We may go for years without having another collision there. So I think it's just more coincidence in this particular occasion."

Foster says after the police conclude their forensic examination of the collision they will discuss the findings with Calgary Transit.

"What that will do is lead to a conversation between us and transit, and the city themselves, to say, ‘Is there anything that we can do to prevent collisions from happening at that location?'"

Police do not believe speed or impairment factored into the collision. The 70-year-old CTrain operator was not injured in the crash.

Anyone with information about the collision is asked to call police at 403-266-1234.

"Help us work out exactly how this vehicle suddenly became in front of the CTrain," Foster said.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers.