Stop trespassing on railway tracks!

parents, guardians and

teachers to remind young people to stay away from the railway tracks over the Easter Holidays.

Following reports of

pedestrians trespassing at Antrim Level crossing, Translink and Antrim Neighbourhood Policing Team carried out ‘spot monitoring’ sessions. Within an hour they had witnessed two people misusing the crossing, and will take legal action against them. Additionally, at Whitehead pedestrian crossing last summer a 15 year old youth was prosecuted for ignoring the level crossing’s

warning lights. He was given a 12 month conditional discharge at Laganside Youth Court. In another incident, a person with a bicycle ignored the crossing’s warning lights and was prosecuted,

resulting in a £90 fine plus an additional £88 charge

towards Translink’s costs.

Translink’s Level Crossing Risk Coordinator Keith Pollock stated: “With schools breaking up for the Easter holidays and evenings

growing lighter, incidents of pedestrian trespass on the rail network will usually

increase. The network can look like a handy shortcut and people are tempted to risk potentially very serious consequences for the sake of saving a few moments. We’ve recently been touring schools across Northern Ireland with our rail safety project for 11-15 year olds, iPredict. It is designed to deliver key rail safety messages, including not trespassing on tracks, to this important target audience. We are also approaching the issue from a stronger stance, which is to detect people in the act of trespass and make it clear to them that they are breaking the law by taking the appropriate legal action. The message is simple-don’t ever use the tracks as a shortcut and never try to beat the barrier.”