It’s been six months since Kari Murphy, a Cochrane resident, lost her son, Lamont, to a tragic mishap on the Cochrane train tracks. In the aftermath of this event, she has a call to action for the town: repair the chain-link fence along the tracks.
Lamont, who was just shy of his 19th birthday at the time, was the second teen within just under a month to lose his life on the tracks that cut through the town. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Dostaler lost his life on the train tracks on July 16 and Lamont on Aug. 9.
“He was beautiful, sweet, kind, thoughtful, had a terrific sense of humor,” Kari said in speaking of her son’s vibrant personality.
Since the accident, Kari has been reaching out to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Town of Cochrane to spark change and repair the chain-link fence that runs alongside the train tracks.
“I didn’t even know that nothing had been done to the fence – somebody had brought it to my attention that it was still in the same condition (since August) and it literally took my breath away that nobody thought to even put the broken fence back up.”
She reasons that the fence could have acted as a deterrent and could possibly have prevented the situation.
“For somebody in my son’s state of mind – because he had a bad day and it should have just been a bad day – a distraction of even the five or ten minutes to go around or figure out how to get over the fence could have saved his life.
“I understand it’s not just as easy as throwing up a fence; as the tragedies of this last weekend in Calgary show, there’s no amount of fences that can keep people out when they’re determined. But there has to be some kind of solution that everybody can come to.”
According to Mac de Beaudrap, the senior manager of protective services for the town, the fence is town property as it is on the town’s land, not CPR’s.
“CPR does not have any fences that they’ve installed or maintained in the Town of Cochrane,” de Beaudrap said.
“The chain-link fences, especially the ones along Glenbow Drive, are on town property. As they fall into disrepair, the town repairs them; we’ve made a point of repairing it. It’s a constant thing – every year the Parks department go out and assess the condition of all our fences and make repairs wherever necessary.”
De Beaudrap went on to explain there is signage in place along the fences and that cutting through the fences is considered trespassing. The town encourages pedestrians to cross the tracks at the designated crossings to ensure safety.
A short walk alongside the fence line on the six-month anniversary of Lamont’s death, Feb. 9, showed multiple places where the fence is either in disrepair or there simply isn’t any fence at all.
Kari acknowledged a fence isn’t a permanent solution and maybe in the future the town could look at alternative options.
“We’re putting all this time and effort and advertising and art into the new downtown and from my point of view it doesn’t have to be an ugly chain-link fence. Maybe it could be a wall, or maybe it could be an old-school train station that a cute boutique shop could move into.”
The town has been working with CPR to spread awareness of train track safety and mental health in schools in the community.
“Public awareness about trains and train operations and the related dangers has always been a more effective means of preventing individuals being on the tracks. We have had a concentrated effort with (CPR), the RCMP, CP Police, the FCSS, and Alberta Mental Health. In September we were involved in our schools and presented what’s called Operation Lifesaver – a railway company initiative to increase awareness of rail safety.”
De Beaudrap explained the town is meeting with CPR to discuss the tidiness of the railway in the upcoming week. CPR declined to comment on the fence line discussion.
Kari reached out to Blake Richards, the MP for the Banff-Airdrie constituency, as well.
“I told her that we would look into some things for her in terms of legislation and just see what the status of things are. And that’s kind of where we’re at right now, we’re gathering some information for her that might help her moving forward,” Richards said.
Kari is also hoping this tragedy will inspire people to be nicer to one another – even if it’s just by simply giving compliments rather than pointing out flaws.
“It takes some kind of tragedy for somebody to push for change. (The fence) might act as a deterrent - I’ll never know of course, it’s too late for my son. But maybe it’s not too late for somebody else’s.”
“My son was kind and thoughtful and he deserves nothing less; he deserves change.”
