A man is dead after attempting to crawl under a moving train in southeast Calgary Sunday morning.

Police said a 54-year-old man was waiting for a train to pass at the 8th Street S.E. road crossing in Inglewood about 6:30 a.m.

“It sounds like he was there and ... he didn’t want to wait for the train so he tried to climb underneath it,” Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey of the traffic section said.

“It was a slow-moving train and it ran him over. It was simply an accident.”

The Canadian Pacific train’s crew found the man on the tracks soon after and called emergency services. The victim had suffered several amputations, Stacey said. He was taken to hospital, but died of his injuries.

Police had confirmed alcohol was a factor in the incident.

The man was with his common law wife at the time. The couple were homeless and living in an encampment near the rail crossing, Stacey said.

The woman, 49, was “hysterical” after the accident, Stacey said, and caught the CP crew’s attention.

“She was quite upset, and then they realized the man had been run over.”

The train had been shunting back and forth near the crossing prior to the accident, Stacey said, picking up and disconnecting cars. It was still doing so when the man tried to crawl under it.

CP spokesman Andy Cummings said the crew became aware their train had run over the victim as they began to make a return pass over the site and were alerted by the man’s wife.

“They didn’t immediately realize their train was involved until further review.”

“Our thoughts at this time are with the man’s friends and family.”

8th Street S.E. was closed between 9th Avenue and MacDonald Avenue Sunday morning while police investigated the scene. It reopened in the afternoon.

mwright@calgaryherald.com