Rail safety message for schoolchildren

ESSEX schoolchildren are to get a dramatic warning about the potentially lethal dangers of trespassing on the railway when safety officers pay them a visit this week.

Barry King, Crime and Community Manager from train operating company c2c, and Ray Huggett, Pitsea-based Railtrack Production Supervisor, are talking to pupils at East Tilbury County Junior School, Princess Margaret Road on Friday (9 February).

The seven to 11-year-olds are in the prime "at risk" age group for being tempted onto the railways to carry out acts of trespass and vandalism. So the prime objective of Barry and Ray is to bring home to them the dangers and remove the risk.

Barry said: "We must talk to 4,000 or more school children a year in East London and Essex and I've never encountered any of those we have spoken to when we go out there and do apprehend youngsters trespassing on the track, so it shows the school visits really do work.

"The children at East Tilbury have to cross a railway level crossing on our line every day they go to school, so that is one area we are going to be focusing on in particular this Friday.

"The barriers can sometimes stay down for up to eight minutes when there are trains coming, and it is tempting for the bigger children to jump the barriers if they get impatient. But no-one knows what time and at what speed a train is going to come round the corner. I've even seen adults consulting their timetables at the crossing, trying to make a guess, thinking about gambling and running across.

"There are empty trains coming back from London in the peak which don't feature in the timetable, plus our new Electrostar trains are so quiet you can't hear them coming. There are high risks of being killed if you act foolishly and take those kind of reckless chances."

As well as talking to the youngsters about the hazards posed by trespass on the railway, such as the risk of electrocution from 25,000 volt overhead power lines and the possibility of tripping and injuring yourself on the track, Barry and Ray will also be showing two pertinent safety videos.

In acted out scenarios, one presents the dangers of misusing level crossings and shows a car being totally destroyed when struck by a train. The other shows three youngsters trespassing in a depot as they spray graffiti to "tag" trains, and one of them is run over and killed by a train moving across the yard.

Barry added: "The messages we use with children of this age are naturally made effective by being kept simple. We point out that trains are the safest form of land transport and, as an important part of their education, just help them understand the real risks if they do misuse the railway."

In addition to school visits like this, Barry and Ray will be joining emergency services and utilities companies at three "Crucial Crews" school events in the summer where all sorts of household and outdoor dangers are spelled out to school and college pupils using talks, displays and exhibitions.