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Wednesday 17 Oct 2018

Thomas the Tank Engine to teach children railway safety

Region & Route:

| North West & Central

Network Rail has teamed up with Thomas the Tank Engine to help educate children about railway safety.

The 'Stay Safe with Thomas’ book sees the mischievous Thomas misbehaving on the railway - putting both himself and his friends in danger.

Thomas learns valuable lessons on the dangers of not stopping at a level crossing when the red light shows, leaving gates open to allow animals on the tracks, and when people stand too close to the edge of a platform.

Network Rail, along with British Transport Police, hopes the book will encourage parents to discuss rail safety with their young children to help keep them safe when they are on or near the railway.

The books will be distributed to local schools, libraries, nurseries and doctors’ surgeries across the country.

A free, electronic version of the book will be available to download, from mid-October 2018, at www.networkrail.co.uk/thomas.

Allan Spence, head of public and passenger safety at Network Rail, said: “The railway is full of both obvious and hidden dangers. By offering parents an engaging and fun way to talk to their children at a young age about safety on the railway, we hope children will grow up knowing the dangers and keep themselves and their friends safe.”

Superintendent Susan Peters of British Transport Police said: “We are delighted to be collaborating on this initiative, our focus is keeping people safe and working with such a well-known children’s television character is exciting. This Thomas the Tank engine story book gives us an engaging and accessible way to ensure essential safety messaging is reaching young children. Although BTP runs activity through the year to educate the public of the seen and unseen dangers in and around the railway tracks, we hope that being able discuss this subject through the use of these books will make our safety messages go further.”

Senior regional licensing manager, publishing at Mattel Consumer Products, Maribel Le Gelebart, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Network Rail on the launch of the Stay Safe with Thomas storybook.  Thomas & FriendsTM has been teaching life lessons for over 70 years through storybooks as well as its exciting content and product ranges. So, it was a natural fit to collaborate on a rail safety storybook which leverages and reinforces the brands’ key values of friendship, teamwork and safety.”

The launch of the story book comes off the back of the ‘You vs Train’ campaign, ran by the rail industry and the British Transport Police (BTP), which targeted older children and teenagers to warn them of the dangers of the railway and that it isn’t a playground.

In the last five years, the number of young people taking risks on the railway has gone up by almost 80 per cent.