Short-cut through fence fixed after 4-year-old child struck, killed by train in Mississauga

On Wednesday, crews were seen patching up the barrier, adding extra fencing to where there were openings in an attempt to seal off access completely to the train tracks.

Crews were on scene Wednesday morning, the day after a young child was struck and killed by a passing GO train in Mississauga, repairing a broken fence that runs adjacent to the track lines.

On Tuesday, at around 7:39 p.m., police said they were called to the train tracks area near Dundas Street and Cawthra Road where a child was struck by a train and pronounced dead at the scene.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said the child was four years old.

A railway line used by GO Transit’s Milton trains and commercial freight passes the intersection, crossing both Cawthra Road and Dundas Street, and running parallel to a street called Lolita Gardens.

Multiple witnesses told Global News that there was an opening in the fence and that many residents in the area used it as a shortcut to get to Dundas Street instead of walking “all the way around.”

On Wednesday morning, crews were seen patching up the barrier, adding extra fencing to where there were already existing gaps in an attempt to seal off access completely to the train tracks.

A resident named Samantha said she often saw people crossing through.

“I figured because we have an open fence right by the train tracks it would be best for our community to close that fence and to fix it so that there won’t be any more ways for people to go through it,” she said.