International awareness day to help make level crossings across the south and south west of England safer: Network Rail TV Advert on level crossing safety - Stills

Friday 3 May 2013

International awareness day to help make level crossings across the south and south west of England safer

Region & Route:
| Southern: Wessex
| Southern

Level crossings across the south and south west of England are being targeted this week to raise public awareness about the importance of using them safely and correctly.

Across Britain, rail safety teams are hosting more than 100 awareness events to help educate people as part of International Level Crossing Awareness Day.

On the Wessex route, which runs from London Waterloo across the south and south west of England, between April 2012 and March 2013 there were 34 near misses, three incidents of a vehicle being damaged and one injury as a result of people misusing level crossings.

The new figures have been published by the Network Rail and South West Trains Alliance which is one of 45 worldwide organisations supporting International Level Crossing Awareness Day on Tuesday 7 May 2013.

Safety teams will be at level crossings in Feniton between 7.15am and noon; Poole High Street between 8.30am and noon; Gramshaw Road, Salisbury between 8am and noon; Mount Pleasant, Southampton between 8.30am and noon; and Farnborough North between 7.30m and 10.30am on Tuesday 7 May.

They will be speaking to crossing users about the importance of using level crossings safely and the potential consequences of misusing crossings. Safety leaflets will be handed out BTP will have the option of taking enforcement action against those who misuse the crossings.

Martin Gallagher, head of level crossings at Network Rail said: “Where a road or footpath meets the railway there will always be a risk – tragically, for a few people every year, this results in injury or loss of life. We want to reduce the chances of this happening as much as possible. The surest way to reduce risk at a level crossing is to close it and under our current safety programme we have successfully closed more than 600 nationally in the last three years.

“If we’re not able to close a crossing, we want to raise awareness of how to use crossings safely and the risks associated with getting distracted or ignoring warning signs. That’s why our safety teams are out across the country as part of International Level Crossing Awareness Day to talk to people who use the crossings, listen to any questions they may have and help them better understand what we’re doing to improve safety for them and everyone around the railway.”

Superintendent Phil Trendall of British Transport Police said: “BTP works closely with all our rail industry partners and other police forces to educate users of level crossings as well as enforce road traffic legislation. International Level Crossing Awareness Day remains a key event in our calendar and BTP officers will be out and about at crossings around the country to promote that all-important safety message. Safety remains our primary concern and we will do all we can to contribute to the proper use of crossings, which must be treated with respect. However, the law related to crossings will be enforced and where necessary drivers prosecuted.”

For more information on how to safely use level crossings visit www.networkrail.co.uk/level-crossings/types-of-level-crossing/footpath-crossings/

Notes to editors

Network Rail is investing £130m to make level crossings safer by building footbridges, adding new barriers and new technology. In 2009 the company committed to closing 750 by spring 2014 and is well on the way to achieving that goal. A national television advertising campaign, based around the childhood game I Spy, will run from Sunday 5 May for three weeks across terrestrial, satellite and digital channels.

International Level Crossing Day of Action involves a number of partners from the road sector, local authorities, railway partners, British Transport Police, local police forces, the European Transport Safety Council, European Railway Agency, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM), European Level Crossing Forum (ELCF) and International Union of Railways.

Network Rail has a dedicated youth initiative called Rail Life. Created in partnership with young people it aims to raise awareness of level crossing safety and other rail safety issues. The initiative will provide a wide range of resources, ranging from assembly kits to lesson plans, for use in schools and youth clubs.

The high impact youth website www.rail-life.co.uk contains facts, videos, advice and lots of content on rail safety for teenagers (11-17 year olds).

The vision for the campaign is that it will become the main place that young people (and the professionals who work with them) will go to for insights and information on many aspects of the railway – from safety, to careers, to general information about Britain’s transforming rail network.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
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03457 11 41 41

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Journalists
Network Rail press office - South East route
020 3357 7969
southeastroutecomms@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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