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Wednesday 22 Jul 2009

SCOTLAND’S RAILWAY TRESPASS TIME-BOMB

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Scottish families face ‘inevitable tragedy’ if young people can’t be persuaded to stay off the railway tracks, Network Rail warned today (22 July).

Speaking at the launch of No Messin Live’, Network Rail’s free railway safety event for young people, Mark Henderson, the company’s community safety manager for Scotland laid out a stark warning:

“We’ve worked hard throughout the last twelve months to reduce the number of young people taking risks on or near tracks and, fortunately, there has been a reduction in reported incidents and no related fatalities in Scotland.

“But railway trespass remains a ticking time-bomb and, if we don’t do even more as an industry and as a society to educate young people about the risks of throwing objects, taking shortcuts or drinking alcohol near the tracks, more Scottish families face inevitable tragedy.”

North and South Lanarkshire have been identified as the worst regions for railway crime, with 122 incidents reported in nine towns during 2008. The area is targeted as part of this year’s No Messin’ Live! campaign, with an free event at Hamilton Palace Grounds this Friday (24 July 12-4pm).

Now in its fourth year, ‘No Messin Live!’ launches at Inveralmond High School in Livingston today (22July), with the goal of getting the railway safety message across to young people using a positive, fun, inclusive style. The event gives young people the chance to try out a range of sports, crafts, and creative skills, demonstrating that there are lots of better ways to spend time than taking risks near the tracks.

Mark Henderson continued:

“We’ve had an extremely positive response from communities in West Lothian and in Lanarkshire to these events. They are the highlight of a year long safety campaign and we expect that over 4,000 young people will attend over the two days. All we hope that they have fun and remember one thing – stay off the tracks.”

Steve Gillies, (41) a train driver with CrossCountry trains, which serve Edinburgh and Glasgow, knows first hand the devastation that youth trespass can cause. He said:

“I’ve been a train driver for two decades and it’s amazing how many people continue to trespass on the railway despite all the warnings and risks. I think No Messin’ is a fantastic initiative to hit home the message that anti-social behaviour on and around the railway can have serious consequences, even loss of life. Anything that can help deter crime and vandalism gets my vote.”

Chief Inspector Dave Marshall of British Transport Police said:

“With hard work and the support of our rail industry partners we have reduced route crime offences by 21% in the last year. But we will never become complacent and I cannot emphasise strongly enough the dangers associated with this type of crime. BTP officers are all too often called to incidents where youngsters have been injured and in some cases killed because they were messing about on or near the railway.

“People who trespass or commit crime on the railway are putting their own lives at risk as well as the lives of all the staff and passengers travelling on trains. I am also appealing to parents and adults to emphasise the dangers to your children and if you live near the railway, ask yourself if you know where your children are playing. It is fortunate that it is almost ten years since a child fatality on Scotland’s railways. This can be put down in no small part to the educational and preventative work undertaken by our officers and colleagues in the rail industry.”