NETWORK RAIL STATEMENT FOR BBC LONDON REGARDING FOOT CROSSINGS

Wednesday 8 Oct 2003

NETWORK RAIL STATEMENT FOR BBC LONDON REGARDING FOOT CROSSINGS

Region & Route:: National

We cannot possibly hope to understand the anguish and heartache caused by losing a child. This was a terribly tragic event and nothing we can do will bring Sophie back. Any interface with the railway, be it a vehicular or pedestrian crossing, is potentially dangerous if not treated with as much caution and respect as a busy road. The rail industry works tirelessly to educate children to the dangers of playing on and around the railway. School visits, live plays, holiday campaigns, literature, radio advertising, football in the community, video productions are just some of the methods employed. Safety remains Network Rail’s top priority and moves to make crossings safer are to be welcomed. For our own part we would, wherever possible, try to separate vehicles and pedestrians from crossing the railway through closing crossings and helping local authorities to install footbridges and road bridges. This strategy, to separate the railway from the public to deliver improved safety, continues.

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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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