Friday 13 Aug 2004

NETWORK RAIL AND DARLINGTON FC FOOTBALL IN THE COMMUNITY JOIN FORCES TO TACKLE CRIME ON THE RAILWAY

Region & Route:
Time and Date:  11am Monday 16 August Venue: The new stadium, Neasham Road, Darlington You are invited to join budding young footballers who have been brushing up on their ball skills thanks to Network Rail and Darlington FC Football in the Community. The youngsters will be testing their skills against David McGurk.  Please contact Carolyn Watson on 01904 522825 to confirm your attendance. Vicki Smith, External Liaison Officer, Network Rail said: “Every year children are killed or injured on the railway.  Network Rail works with Football in the Community in ‘hotspot’ areas to provide after school and holiday activities for children at times when they can often feel bored and start to see the railway as a potential playground.  The coaching sessions also allow us to deliver safety messages to educate children about the dangers of trespassing on railway.” Kevin Stonehouse, Football in the Community Manager added: “ Football in the Community introduces children to football and their local football club.  As well as educating children about football and a healthy lifestyle our partnership with Network Rail allows us to get the message across about the dangers of the railway.”

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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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