Rise in people risking lives on railway tracks
SHOCKING CCTV footage of children playing on railway lines has been released as new figures reveal a sharp rise in the number of people risking their lives by trespassing on train tracks.
The clip shows two young boys throwing stones at high-voltage overhead cables. A third youngster is captured on camera jumping up onto a platform before being dragged to safety by his friends seconds before a train thunders past.
The police video also shows a man calmly walking his dog on a section of track – and a boy rolling free from the path of an oncoming train with seconds to spare.
The footage has been released by British Transport Police (BTP) chiefs in a bid to deter people going near train tracks. Trespassing incidents in Manchester are at an alarming five-year high. There were 306 reports recorded by BTP in 2012. The figure now stands at 456 – an increase of 150.
In the Wigan area there were 108 cases in 2016, also a five-year high.
The statistics include cases of youngsters playing on live lines and people taking shortcuts through stations and over tracks.
Incidents across the north west went up by 40 per cent between 2012 and 2016 – to 1,142. In the past decade, 170 people have been killed trespassing on railways across the country – almost half of them under the age of 25.
Some 42 children came to the attention of BTP officers in 2016 while trespassing.
Children often play on tracks during the spring and summer school holidays. BTP and Network Rail officers are now going into schools in a fresh bid to warn youngsters of the dangers. Inspector Iain McLaren said: “It’s not a game. They are real tracks, with real trains and real life consequences. The number of children we encounter trespassing every year is, sadly, just the tip of the iceberg.
“Every day we are called to the tracks because a train driver has had to sound their horn or apply their emergency brake in a desperate bid to avoid youths on the line, who then run off, seemingly unaware of the danger they have put themselves in. We continue to do all we can to keep youngsters safe by patrolling areas they’re likely to trespass.”