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9 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,O ctober 17,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca AREA RUGS NEW FALL STYLES HAVE ARRIVED! 1362VICTORIA ST N. KITCHENER MON-FRI 9AM-9PM SAT 9AM-6PM SUN 10AM-5PM 70%OFF!upto NO TAX! 4'x6'FROM $4999 5'x8'FROM $6999 8'x11'FROM $15999 OVER 1,000 RUGS IN STOCK! A company based out of Elora says it's working to- ward implementing a solu- tion that could help pre- vent cycling accidents at skewed rail crossings, like the one reported by the Chronicle last week in which a man sustained se- rious head trauma. Matt Bigger, director of Polycorp's rail division en- gineered products group, said the company is on the verge of testing its new "shallow flangeway" with partners such as CN and Metrolinx, and he believes crossings like the one in uptown along the Spur Line Trail would be ideal for piloting the product that's intended to prevent the wheels of bicycles and other mobility devices from getting stuck in the tracks. The patent has been years in the making and could be a game changer at thousands of rail cross- ings, Bigger believes, and not just because of con- cerns over cycling injuries. "Bike accidents are usu- ally headers - tires get stuck in the tracks and the pinch is like stopping the front tire instantly," said Bigger. "The rider will fly over, but usually it's an able-bodied person be- cause they're riding a bicy- cle, and usually he or she can at least crawl or move out of the way." @media screen and (max- width:600px){.pica-fig,.pi- ca-fig img{width:100%}.pi- ca-fig{margin:0 0 16px 0;float:left}}@media screen and (min-width:600px){.pi- ca-fig img{width:100%}.pi- ca-fig{width:40%;margin:0 20px 16px 0;float:left}}A drawing of the shallow flangeway from Polycorp's patent application | Poly- corp Other incidents in- volving wheelchairs and individuals with mobility issues have resulted in fa- talities after people got stuck and were unable to move out of the way of on- coming trains, he said. Those advocating on be- half of people with disabili- ties, as well as railway op- erators and regulators, have vested interest in the safety hazard that's in play at countless train cross- ings over roadways and trails, especially those that are skewed or run parallel to the tracks, he said. "They don't really an- nounce all the bad things that have happened to peo- ple." According to rail trans- portation safety investiga- tion report, on May 26, 2018, a CN train travelling west- ward through Chilliwack, B.C., struck and fatally in- jured a pedestrian in a mo- torized wheelchair after it became immobilized at a public crossing. Two motorists had stopped at the crossing and exited their vehicles to as- sist the pedestrian before the collision. One of them was struck by the train and sustained serious injuries. Dean Pazianos, 28, was cycling home from work at a local kitchen in Waterloo last Tuesday morning, us- ing the Spur Line Trail con- nection off King Street North - a route he's famil- iar with taking. Pazianos said he's a con- scious cyclist other than the fact he wasn't wearing a helmet. However, he ad- mits he was probably in a bit of a rush and doesn't re- member much after flying over the handlebars, hit- ting his head and being knocked unconscious. Bystanders came to his aid and Pazianos was air- lifted to Hamilton from Grand River Hospital with a brain bleed. After going through a gamut of tests he was released the following day with a concussion, T3s, cuts and bruises. Even though he's still undergoing tests and will be out of commission for a while, Pazianos considers himself lucky overall, his eyesight and faculties still intact. He's joined the call of other cyclists in the area - some who've experienced similar incidents and inju- ries - asking for the imple- mentation of safety mea- sures such as signs along the trail that requires cy- clists to transverse train tracks in a number of spots. Waterloo Coun. Tenille Bonoguore has acknowl- edged the safety issues and said she's interested in working toward a solution that could come in various forms and won't likely hap- pen overnight. But Bigger said the Spur Line crossing in uptown could be an ideal area to test his company's shallow flangeway, something it's been developing for a long time with the help of scien- tists, researchers and fed- eral government funding. There are numerous tests required before it can be adopted by the broader rail industry, but Bigger said the Spur Line is ideal for several reasons as it's used for freight, with rela- tively low train speeds in areas shared by other modes of transportation, including cyclists. Polycorp, which has roots in Kitchener's former BF Goodrich, has provided it railseal Epflex - an ex- truded virgin rubber pro- file designed to absorb rail deflection and vehicular traffic - at crossings across North America. Its latest innovation co- incides with the nature of Waterloo region, Bigger said, pointing to the advan- cement of light rail transit and cycling infrastructure overall. SPUR LINE TRAIL PERFECT TO TEST NEW 'SHALLOW FLANGEWAY' BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca NEWS