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Prince Albert fire department says person lucky to be alive after falling asleep on train tracks

Firefighters in Prince Albert, Sask. say a person is lucky to be alive after falling asleep on train tracks. (Prince Albert Fire Department/Facebook - image credit)
Firefighters in Prince Albert, Sask. say a person is lucky to be alive after falling asleep on train tracks. (Prince Albert Fire Department/Facebook - image credit)

People in Prince Albert, Sask., are being warned to stay out of a local rail yard after a person was almost hit by a train last week.

On Thursday, an engineer working for Carlton Trail Railways noticed what he initially thought was clothing lying on the tracks. When he discovered that it was a person, he slammed on the brakes, stopping the train just in time.

"The train did stop with the locomotive partially over top of the person, but the person didn't make contact with the train at all," said deputy fire chief Alex Paul.

"They were laying horizontal between the rails."

Once the fire department arrived, firefighters placed a spine board under the person and an ambulance took them to hospital for observation.

Deputy chief Paul said it could have been fatal had the train not stopped when it did.

"The fuel tanks on the locomotive are set a little further back and hang quite low to the tracks," he said.

"There probably wouldn't have been enough clearance."

The Prince Albert Fire Department said the rail yard is located in the centre of the city and is often crossed by pedestrians walking through the city.

Paul said this incident is a good reminder for people to be very careful around trains.

"You shouldn't be anywhere near railroad tracks, particularly in areas where there's multiple sets of tracks," he said.

"If you were to hear a train, you may not know which tracks they were on or which direction it's coming from."