Leicestershire parents urged to speak to children about dangers of trespassing on the railway amid school closures: You vs Train-11

Monday 23 Mar 2020

Leicestershire parents urged to speak to children about dangers of trespassing on the railway amid school closures

Region & Route:
Eastern
  • Parents urged to hammer home railway safety message before it’s too late
  • Horrendous child railway trespass injuries always spike during school closures
  • First ever opportunity to tune into railway safety lessons from home

Network Rail is urging parents and carers in Leicestershire to hammer home railway safety messages as schools across Britain close.

Incidents of trespass on the railway always spike when children are not at school, so parents are urged to remind their children to keep off the tracks as trespassing on the railway is incredibly dangerous and can have horrendous consequences for children and their families. More than 13,500 trespass incidents occur on the rail network each year, a quarter of which involve youths.

Allan Spence, head of public and passenger safety at Network Rail said: “The Easter holidays are the start of the peak for railway trespass and with schools now closed for an extended period, I’m really, really worried that the railway will become an irresistible but catastrophic playground for too many children.

“Each year, we see hundreds of people taking risks on and around the railway, resulting in tragic consequences and life-changing injuries.

“Please talk to your children, access our free school railway safety lessons and help us to help save young people as we know all too well that that everyone loses when you step on the track.”

Network Rail and British Transport Police run a hard-hitting safety campaign – You Vs Train, which highlights the devastating consequences of trespassing on the railway.

With the early closure of schools, the organisations are offering parents the opportunity to sign up for free online tutorials of the You vs Train railway safety lessons, which are normally broadcast into schools via their educational partner LearnLive; visit https://learnliveuk.com/trespass-awareness-week/ for more details.

Important messages for parents and carers to share with children:

  • The rail network is never switched off. Electricity powers the overhead cables 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • The rail network does not go to sleep once the last passenger services have run. Freight trains run all through the night.
  • Never anticipate that the you know when the next train is due. The reduced number of passenger trains running on the network during the day will allow more freight services to operate during the daytime hours, transporting vital goods around the country. A freight train can travel at up to 100mph
  • Further information on rail safety can be found at www.youvstrain.co.uk

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Amy Brenndorfer
Senior Communications Manager
07858375508
07730359569
Amy.Brenndorfer@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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