{"id":674584,"date":"2026-05-17T01:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674584\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T01:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:41:13","slug":"5-dead-10-injured-after-falls-into-vancouvers-grandview-cut-over-past-decade-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674584\/","title":{"rendered":"5 dead, 10 injured after falls into Vancouver’s Grandview Cut over past decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five people have died and 10 others have been injured over the past decade after falling down a steep embankment in East Vancouver, according to new data from Vancouver Fire Rescue Services.<\/p>\n

The incidents happened along a portion of the Grandview Cut \u2014 a manmade ravine created for train tracks to run through East Vancouver \u2014 located near the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station, which is surrounded by chain link fencing.<\/p>\n

Some locals say more needs to be done to keep people safe and out of the area.<\/p>\n

Laura Christensen lived across the street overlooking the cut for almost a decade.<\/p>\n

She said she would regularly see people on the other side of the fence, storing belongings or even camping on a ledge just beside the steep dropoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really steep and people tend to hang out here,\u201d said Christensen, a current Vancouver Park Board commissioner. \u201cJust seeing people being really close to the edge and knowing that could happen is really unnerving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christensen says she watched multiple rescues during her time living there, some of which resulted in deaths.<\/p>\n

Rachel Fox works nearby and says she has noticed people putting up tents and temporarily living near the side of the embankment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis particular area \u2026 does seem to be a place for a lot of at-risk people to gather,\u201d said Fox.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose people may not always be in the right mindset to be near a place that is inherently dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Metro Vancouver Transit Police said its officers, alongside other first responders, have responded to incidents of people falling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not somewhere where people should be going or exploring,\u201d said Const. Sunny Kainth.<\/p>\n

In the most recent incident last summer, one person died after falling into the ravine and another was rescued.<\/p>\n

Christensen said she often noticed large holes cut in the chain link fencing that surrounds the ravine.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

(Martin Diotte\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

A large hole in the fencing was visible earlier this week and smaller holes appeared to be tied back together with ropes in several other spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always worried about my kids sort of getting too close to the edge and potentially going through one of those holes,\u201d said Christensen.<\/p>\n

She says there needs to be a more comprehensive plan for fencing around the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be inspected and repaired on a regular basis. Right now, it seems like it\u2019s being cut weekly and as soon as they fix it it\u2019s just cut again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Who is responsible for the fence?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Grandview Cut was initially built in 1912-13 by the Great Northern Railway. The track runs from Saint Paul, Minn., to Seattle, Wash., and then pushes north across the border to Vancouver.<\/p>\n

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) confirmed to CBC News it owns the train tracks as well as 25 feet from either side of the tracks. Meanwhile, the City of Vancouver owns the embankments surrounding the tracks.<\/p>\n

TransLink said it owns infrastructure related to the SkyTrain tracks, and maintains the greenery on one side of the embankment.<\/p>\n

None of these organizations provided a clear answer as to who is responsible for the fencing.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

(City of Vancouver Archives)<\/p>\n

\u201cMaintenance in this area is shared with a number of parties,\u201d said the statement from the City of Vancouver.<\/p>\n

BNSF Railway said trespassing near train tracks is dangerous and illegal and could result in a $500 fine under the Railway Safety Act.<\/p>\n

The City of Vancouver says anyone who sees people trespassing should call police.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five people have died and 10 others have been injured over the past decade after falling down a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,248016,75360,248015,248017,85472,55],"class_list":["post-674584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chain-link-fencing","tag-east-vancouver","tag-laura-christensen","tag-steep-embankment","tag-train-tracks","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}