Railway police patrol for trespassers

Railway police have begun a campaign designed to discourage people from crossing or walking along railway tracks by targeting 80 favourite short-cuts. Over three days last week, inspectors carried out visible and covert checks on places where trespassing is more common, as well as level crossings particularly vulnerable to dangerous behaviour.

“Every day we note that pedestrians, cyclists and motorists are all too ready to ignore the rules, to walk too close to the tracks or to cross at a crossing when it’s not allowed,” said Infrabel, the national rail infrastructure authority, in a statement.                                               

Last year, nine people died in Belgium after trespassing on the railways, three times as many as in 2012. Infrabel recently stated that each case of trespassing leads to three hours of delay on the network, as trespassers have to be reported by drivers even when there is no incident. Trains immediately following have to reduce speed, and subsequent trains suffer the knock-on effect of delays, said Infrabel.

There were 527 incidents of trespassing reported in the first four months of this year, Infrabel said, and 1,122 in the whole of 2013. Trespassing delays are more than four times more serious than delays caused by weather and signalling problems combined.

The campaign will continue in an attempt to highlight the dangers of trespassing on the railways, as well as the possible cost. Trespassers face fines of up to €1,200. The action last week saw police issue 29 fines and Infrabel issue 39 fines.