Latest news with #Hinrichs
Calgary Herald
04-07-2025
- General
- Calgary Herald
'Most beautiful person': Dozens hike to honour woman killed in rockfall
Dozens walked through Calgary's Weaselhead Natural Area Thursday night to celebrate the life of Jutta Hinrichs, who was killed last month in a rockslide in Banff National Park. Article content More than 100 people hiked through the wooded area straddling the Glenmore Reservoir and Elbow River, a tribute to the esteem the 70-year-old Calgarian was held and her love of nature, said event co-organizer Tracy Aiello. Article content Article content Article content 'We are honouring her by walking together to share memories and have some quiet time in solidarity,' said Aiello. Article content Article content 'She was the most beautiful person all of us ever knew — she never had a bad thing to say about anyone.' Article content Hinrichs was killed when she was caught in a rockfall while hiking at Bow Glacier Falls, 40 kilometres north of Lake Louise on June 19. Article content Also dying in the incident was Moroccan emigre and Surrey, B.C., resident Hamza Benhilal, 33, while 13 others were injured or evacuated from the area overlooking scenic Bow Lake. Article content On Thursday evening, hikers passed around a photo album containing images of Hinrichs, who was an avid hiker and a much-respected occupational therapist. Article content 'It was such a sudden loss,' said Aiello. Article content An online invitation page for the hike offered to Hinrich's Slow and Steady Hikers group included a photo of the Calgarian gently admiring alpacas during a recent visit to Peru. Article content 'We hope this (walk) brings heart-healing to some and/or an opportunity to walk and talk it out to others,' it states. Article content 'Therefore we welcome you to walk quietly in camaraderie with others or visit and chat.' Article content That love of animals was reflected in the donations being collected at Weaselhead Thursday benefiting the Calgary Humane Society, to which Hinrichs devoted some of her time. Article content
Global News
21-06-2025
- General
- Global News
Alberta woman killed in rock slide remembered as ‘gracious person'
Friend, colleague, educator, leader, mentor — those are just a few of the accolades lauded upon Jutta Hinrichs by those who knew her. The 70-year old woman from Calgary has been identified as one of the people killed in the devastating rock slide at Bow Glacier Falls, about 40 km north of Lake Louise along the Icefields Parkway on Wednesday. Emergency crews were called to the area in Banff National Park around 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Two people who had been hiking in the area, and were injured in the rock slide, were airlifted to hospital. Another was taken to hospital by ground ambulance, while Hinrichs died at the scene. On Friday, the body of a second victim was also recovered but has not yet been identified until next of kin is notified. Story continues below advertisement 0:51 Second person dead after Banff National Park rock slide An avid hiker, who loved the mountains, Hinrichs' friends say she was 'a beautiful, caring soul with a huge smile and love of people and nature.' She had just returned to Canada last Friday from a trip to Peru. View image in full screen Friends of Hinrichs tell Global News that she was an avid hiker who loved the mountains. Provided to Global News Hinrichs was also a well-known and accomplished occupational therapist. Story continues below advertisement Her contributions to the profession of occupational therapy, which spanned five decades, were recognized last year with a lifetime achievement award. View image in full screen Robin Telasky, executive director for the Society of Alberta Occupational Therapists, was a friend of Hinrichs for 18 years and describes her as 'an outstanding leader' and a 'gracious person.' Global News 'It's such a tragic loss to occupational therapy in Canada because Yuda was such an outstanding leader and such a gracious person who was always giving up her time, not just to her colleagues, but as a volunteer as well — and she spent so many years working with O.T. students and providing that critical mentorship to young people,' said Robin Telasky, executive director for the Society of Alberta Occupational Therapists who was a friend of Hinrichs for 18 years. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'It's really hard to think of an occupational therapist who would not have been touched in some way by Yuda,' added Telasky, 'which is why she received the Lifetime Achievement Award just last year.' Hinrich's was also the recipient of many awards for her volunteer work, including an outstanding community volunteer award from the United Way Society of Calgary and the Queen's Jubilee medallion from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Story continues below advertisement The office of the vice-president of external relations at the University of Alberta also provided a statement to Global News on the passing of Hinrichs, who was a professor in the faculty of rehabilitation medicine's department of occupational therapy until her retirement in July of 2024. It described her as 'a dedicated leader' who 'nurtured many students, preceptors and clinicians to flourish and grow. That her work continues to enrich the tapestry of occupational therapy in Alberta is her legacy.' Following an extensive search by dozens of emergency responders and search and rescue experts, Parks Canada said a search dog was able to pick up the scent of the second victim late Thursday evening, but it was too late in the day and the area was still too unstable to recover the body. 'We wanted to have a geotechnical engineer assess (the area) — we didn't want to expose people to that risk,' said Parks Canada visitor safety specialist, Lisa Paulson. 'It wasn't an easy retrieval.' Rescue crews returned at first light on Friday and with the help of the Lake Louise fire department, were able to remove the debris and recover the second victim's body. 1:46 Bow Glacier Falls rock slide witness calls scene 'pretty chaotic'
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Banff National Park rockfall victim identified as retired university educator
LAKE LOUISE — One of the two people killed in a rockfall in Banff National Park was identified Friday as 70-year-old Jutta Hinrichs of Calgary. The University of Alberta, in a statement, said Hinrichs was an educator in the department of occupational therapy in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. She retired last summer. 'She was integral to developing a southern Alberta satellite for the department,' said the statement from the Edmonton-based university. 'Jutta nurtured many students, preceptors and clinicians to flourish and grow. That her work continues to enrich the tapestry of occupational therapy in Alberta is her legacy." Hinrichs was found deceased shortly after a slab of mountain suddenly gave way Thursday afternoon, collapsing on hikers at a popular trail near Bow Glacier Falls, which is north of Lake Louise and 200 kilometres northwest of Calgary. Teams have been using aircraft with infrared sensors to search the debris field and a geotechnical engineer was brought in to check the stability of the mountainside. Early Friday, crews recovered one more body, but no further details have been released. Three people went to hospital Thursday -- two of them by air ambulance -- and are listed in stable condition. Officials have said no one else is reported missing and there are no unidentified vehicles at the trailhead. The slide happened at the Bow Glacier Falls hiking trail. It's a nine-kilometre route running along the edges of Bow Lake and is considered a moderate challenge for hikers and is used by tourists and day-trippers, including families. It's a region with limited cellular service. Niclas Brundell lives in nearby Canmore and works as a trail guide. He told The Canadian Press in an interview he was hiking in the area with his wife shortly after noon when they both started seeing concerning signs of rocks tumbling and boulders the size of tires starting to fall. "This was unimaginable to me, that such a big piece of mountain would fall off," he said. As rocks started rolling at the top of the waterfall, he said, they didn't hit anyone, but he and his wife wondered why nobody seemed to be reacting. "Then all of a sudden, I hear the start of another rockfall, and I turned around, and the whole mountainside is coming off." He estimated the slab to be 50 metres wide and 20 metres deep, and he and his wife started sprinting to safety. When he turned around, he could see a group of between 15 and 30 people at the waterfall disappear under a cloud of dust. "The only place I've ever seen something similar is like watching videos from 9-11, when you see New York being cast over,' he said. Brundell said when they got far enough to feel safe, he sent a satellite message to Parks Canada, while his wife ran to a nearby lodge to call for help. He said it's a popular trail because it's considered relatively easy, and on any given summer day there are 15 people or more hiking the trail. Evidence of the rockfall was visible from across the lake. The side of the mountain near the waterfall was darkened and worn, except for a large patch that was significantly lighter, where a heap of debris lay below. The Bow Lake area was closed during the search but has since reopened. Bow Glacier Falls remains closed, and drivers were told there could be possible delays on the nearby Icefields Parkway. 'Banff National Park remains open and safe to visit,' said the joint statement. -- with files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025. Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CSX rebounds from service problems and sluggish operations
CSX has fully bounced back from a bout of operational challenges that began with hurricanes last fall and worsened after the Feb. 1 closure of the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, CEO Joe Hinrichs tells Trains. The railroad's on-time performance in May, measured by trip plan compliance for intermodal and carload shipments, has returned to December levels. 'I've learned enough from Mother Nature to never call the all clear. But we feel really good about the state of our railroad right now,' Hinrichs said in an interview on Wednesday. 'The yards are in good shape. The network is performing back to where it was in '23. And so the team's done a great job … quickly getting the network back.' CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) was already struggling operationally when it shut down the Howard Street Tunnel for a six-to-eight-month double-stack clearance project. This forced the railroad to detour more than 16 trains per day. The tunnel is a key link in both the north-south Interstate 95 Corridor and the east-west corridor that connects Baltimore with the Midwest and with coal mines in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. By the first week in April, the CSX network had slowed to levels not seen since the 2022 service crisis caused by widespread crew shortages at all four big U.S. railroads. The latest performance metrics, released Wednesday, tell the story of how CSX turned its operations around over the past seven weeks: Terminal dwell has improved 20.2% compared to the worst week this year. Average train velocity is running 15.4% above the lowest level posted this year. The number of cars online, a key indication of congestion, has decreased 11.7% compared with this year's high point. And CSX is running faster than last year at this time, too. Last week's dwell was 5.9% lower than the same week last year, while velocity was 3.4% higher. As a result, combined trip plan compliance for intermodal and carload traffic stood at 82.5% in May – up from 68.1% in early April and in line with December 2024's 82.7%. The number of cars online is currently 0.7% higher than a year ago. But that figure reflects extended transit times related to detouring traffic around the Howard Street Tunnel and the out-of-service Blue Ridge Subdivision, which has been closed since September due to extensive damage from Hurricane Helene. The recovery came faster than initially expected. Executives had said service improvements wouldn't come overnight and that the Howard Street and Blue Ridge Sub detours would continue to weigh on the railroad until the projects are completed in the fall. 'I'm proud of the team, but I'm not surprised because I know the capability of this organization,' Hinrichs said. Hinrichs says he also wasn't surprised by the fragility of the network given a string of unusual events. Sixty miles of the Blue Ridge Sub — the former Clinchfield Railroad on the rugged North Carolina-Tennessee border — were wiped off the map in September. Hurricane Milton struck the Southeast right on the heels of Hurricane Helene. Midwestern yards were congested when CSX shut down the Howard Street Tunnel. And then recovery efforts were complicated by spring flooding that hit Kentucky and Tennessee. 'In hindsight, we should have made sure that those yards were in better shape before we took the Howard Street Tunnel down,' Hinrichs said. 'I don't expect we'll have that kind of sequence of events happen again, but we did learn some lessons. Clearly, we've got to keep our yards in great shape. And we have to make sure that we stick to our … service plans, because therein lies our success.' If there is another weather-related disruption, Hinrichs says CSX will be better prepared to respond because the network is running well. 'We're in good shape now and, obviously, our plan and our goal is to keep it running there. What's encouraging is we're getting to these levels before we get the Blue Ridge and Howard Street Tunnel back. So we run like this now and we get those two … projects completed, we're going to be even in better shape.' CSX's operational problems followed a familiar pattern: As a railroad slows down and gets congested, it eventually runs into crew and locomotive shortages, which makes it harder to run to the operating plan — much less clear congestion. And when transit times rise, customers add cars to the system, which further snarls operations. But what made CSX's 2025 meltdown unusual was that it was not accompanied by a wave of customer complaints. Hinrichs credits this to proactive communication with shippers and close coordination between customer service and operations. The customer service team asked customers to prioritize their shipments. The information was then passed along to operations, which put an emphasis on moving the hot cars. In some instances, CSX trucked containers and trailers around rail congestion so that they would arrive on time. 'We did a number of extraordinary things to keep our service focused on our customers and to respond to customer needs,' Hinrichs said. 'And so what we found really important to customers was visibility and proactive communication. And I think that's why you didn't hear a lot of complaints.' CSX took several steps to clear congestion. Among them: pulling 45 locomotives from storage, ordering 20 additional locomotive rebuilds, adjusting engineering work blocks to align with natural lulls in traffic, storing 2,000 cars, and collaborating with customers and shortline railroads to pre-block traffic and increase the frequency of interchanges. Hinrichs says the railroad was adequately staffed on the routes that have had to shoulder the burden of the Howard Street Tunnel and Blue Ridge Sub detours, which account for about 12% of the railroad's daily train starts. But crew supply got tight once congestion put crews and locomotives out of position. To boost crew levels, the railroad temporarily transferred crews to 13 locations and consolidated extra boards at eight locations. Hinrichs also made two appeals to train crews and other employees to make themselves available, particularly on weekends, to help get traffic moving. Did those bulletins make an impact? 'I'll just say I'm really proud of how our team responded. I believe in treating all of our 23,000 railroaders as equals and I felt they needed to know what was happening and what help was needed and where we needed additional help. And they responded,' Hinrichs said. Independent analyst Anthony B. Hatch says CSX did a remarkable job turning its operations around. To please customers, the railroad has been absorbing the extra costs related to the detours. 'So CSX is taking the hit, not shippers,' Hatch said. CSX's first-quarter profits fell as congestion hurt volumes and revenue while driving up the railroad's expenses. Related: Weather issues, tunnel work cost CSX $1 million a day in first quarter The post CSX rebounds from service problems and sluggish operations appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
U.S. Senator presses CSX to increase rail safety after 2 recent train derailments in Georgia
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is urging action from rail company CSX after two trains derailed in Georgia in less than two months. Ossoff announced the launch of an inquiry into CSX Transportation, requesting answers from company CEO Joseph Hinrichs after train cars went off track in March and May. The two derailments mentioned by Ossoff for his safety inquiry happened on March 25, when six CSX train cars derailed in Fayette County, and on May 9 in Smyrna, when 17 train cars derailed in a residential area. The March 25 derailment in Fayette County was preceded by a warning to the rail company by law enforcement hours before 'that they had found broken tracks at the intersection where the derailment later occurred.' [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] RELATED STORIES: Train derailment has part of Fayette County road closed as crews clean up Investigators trying to determine what caused train derailment in Fayette County Police warned of broken track hours before Fayette County train derailed CSX train partially derails near Cobb County neighborhood, middle school Cleanup continues following train derailment in Smyrna Smyrna residents push for more regulation after train derailment In Smyrna, Channel 2 Action News was at the scene, where the train cars derailed just feet from homes and businesses nearby. 'I write to express serious concern about two recent derailments of CSX train cars in Georgia, and to request specific solutions from CSX as soon as possible on plans to prevent such derailments in the future,' Ossoff said in his letter to Hinrichs. 'More must be done to protect my constituents.' The senator wants CSX to provide information on new solutions to prevent future derailments and is pushing for answers on what they're doing to make that happen. Ossoff said the derailments and 'significant operation failures could have seriously injured or killed my constituents,' saying the company has to do more to prevent serious incidents in the future. In his letter to Hinrichs, Ossoff requested answers within two weeks related to the nature of the failures, prevention and if hazardous materials are ever on the routes where the derailments happened, among others. Channel 2 Action News has reached out to CSX for response and will update coverage when it is received. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
