Network Rail and the British Transport Police have warned locals of the dangers of trespassing on the railway after CCTV captured shocking footage in East Sussex.
The footage at a Rye foot crossing shows two cyclists entering the level crossing so that one of them can take a picture.
There have also been several incidents of people walking or playing on the crossing, and these have been reported to the British Transport Police.
Network Rail has also reminded the public that this section of the railway uses a third rail to power trains, which carries enough electricity to kill.
“Incidents of trespass on the railway cause issues for everyone using the network, where an individual could sustain life-changing injuries and in the worst-case scenario, loss of life. A photo for social media is never worth the risk of putting yourself in this extremely dangerous situation.
James Neeson, Network Rail level crossing manager
Responses
There is no cure for this, if you close these crossings, you are penalising the vast majority who use these crossings sensibly. I have a similar issue with a river bridge, where we regularly have to stop our passenger boats, because of youths on the very top of the structure. If we proceed, and they fall and hit the boat, they are probably dead. If we wait and they hit the water, we are still obliged to rescue them. It is annoying, and a better anti- climbing system could be, installed, but that means three authorities agreeing to pay for this, and they probably feel it is not worth the cost.
This is the problem with foot crossings, you have no control on how they are used, and the only way is close them all and divert footpaths around or build bridges, but foot crossings are usually used in places where there is little footfall.
I had to use a foot crossing to get to school aged about 7ish, and the rule of thumb was to wait for the train to pass on the single line before crossing, this did have benefits as if the train was a light loco running back to the power station and was driven by our neighbour, I would get a lift to school on the loco and only had to climb over the school wall.
Hopefully they will get hit. They won’t do it again.