Media centre

Tuesday 20 Aug 2024

Deer-oh-deer: Network Rail unveils the Southern region's worst trespassing criminals

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

| Southern: Sussex

| Southern: Kent

• Deers top the list of criminal animals that most frequently trespass on the railway
• But people are by far the worst offender
• Over the last year animals trespassed four times a day; people, every half-an-hour!

New figures released by Network Rail reveal that animals trespassed 1,432 times in the 12 months to 31 March 2024 ranging from deer at one end of the scale to bees, a donkey, mice, hedgehogs and even a now, well-known tortoise. But by far the worst offender are people with over 19,300 incidents – one every half-an-hour.

Our deer-est pals who tend to live in high numbers across rural, forested areas, which are commonly found alongside the railway ranked first place, with almost 350 incidents over the year.

Baaa-rt not far behind, were our woolly friends – sheep – in second place with 177 incidents. Ruffling the train schedule feathers, birds and swans in third (172) and fifth place (143) respectively. While moo-ving into fourth place were cows with 156 recorded incidents.

Other dastardly villains across the country included dogs (135), cats (107), badgers (55), foxes (42) and in tenth place, pigs (38). While some of the more unexpected visitors have included bees, mice, hedgehogs and even a llama and a tortoise.

Trespass in numbers across the south of England

Across Network Rail’s Southern region which serves rail passengers and freight operators right across the south of England, from Devon in the West to Kent in the East, there were a total of 8,303 incidents of trespass, of which 125 incidents involved animals, in the 12 months to 31 March 2024. For every minute of delay caused by an animal across the Southern region, a human caused over 10 and a half minutes’ worth of disruption to trains.

Of the 125 animal-related trespass incidents, badgers got onto the tracks the most, with 36 instances occurring, followed by swans in second place (22) with dogs and foxes tied for third on 18.

Cygnet-ure training

Network Rail has a range of measures in place to help it manage and minimise animal incursions onto the railway. Across Network Rail Southern region’s Wessex route – which serves the towns and communities in part or all of the counties of Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire – swans resulted in the largest number of delays to passengers.

Swans can become aggressive when approached and combined with much of the railway across the Wessex route being powered by electrified third rail, removing this protected species can be particularly challenging.

To help tackle this, Network Rail has a partnership with the Swan Sanctuary, a charity in Shepperton, Surrey to providing front line railway workers with beak-spoke training on how to quickly and safely remove swans from the tracks and release them back into the wild, helping prevent lengthy delays to passengers.

Tom Desmond, Network Rail’s Wessex route operations director, said: “The railway tracks are for trains, not people and animals. Trains, when travelling at full speed, need the length of several football pitches to stop and, unlike cars, can’t swerve out of the way of obstacles. There are also invisible dangers such as the electrified third rail. Everybody loses when a person risks their lives on the railway.

“Our first priority is to ensure everyone gets home safe, every day, be it humans or animals. Swans are the most impactful animal trespassers for disrupting passenger services and our partnership with the Swan Sanctuary provides our front-line teams with invaluable skills and training to tackle the challenge of quickly and safely removing our feathered friends from the railway.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail’s operations chief, said: “Trespassing on the railway is a serious offence that causes delays to thousands of trains every year and can be very costly for people – causing death and life changing injuries due to the railways many hidden dangers. This summer, when we see trespass at its peak our message is clear whoever you are: child, adult, dog walker, holiday maker or beast – stay off the tracks."