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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.