At least 24 crashes involving ION LRT since inception in 2019

Since Waterloo Region’s LRT started operating in the summer of 2019 there have been a number of crashes involving ION trains.

The crashes have typically involved vehicles, but there have also been run-ins with cyclists and one crash where a pedestrian was fatally struck.

The first time a person was hurt was just months after the LRT trains began operating.

This section of King Street between Agnes Street and Green Street in Kitchener has seen at least nine crashes involving LRT trains in the last four years. (Daniel Caudle/Datawrapper)

On Nov. 8, 2019 a cyclist was sent to hospital after turning in front of an ION train on Courtland Avenue East near Ottawa Street South.

That cyclist was later charged with careless driving.

A couple of months later, on the morning of Jan. 4, 2020, a southbound train struck 39-year-old Jason Rastel on Columbia Street West near Phillip Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was the first and only fatal LRT train crash since the ION launched.

Some other notable crashes include when a cement truck smashed into the side of the ION on King Street East Near Agnes Street last July.

CTV News Kitchener has reported on a total of 24 crashes between May 2019 and March 2023.

This section in south Kitchener comprising of Ottawa Street South near Courtland Avenue East has seen several crashes since the LRT began operating. (Daniel Caudle/Datawrapper)

Of those, the intersections with the highest number of incidents include:

• Seven on King Street between Green And Agnes
• Two at King Street and Union
• Four at Ottawa and Courtland

One of the crashes happened in May of 2019 before operations officially began - at that point the trains were in testing.

The list provided only includes only the crashes CTV News Kitchener has reported on.