South West Trains and the Pompey Study Centre have joined forces to promote safety and deliver strong messages to children and teenagers in the Portsmouth area by promoting the ‘Off The Rails’ project.
The scheme, run jointly by the Pompey Study Centre and South West Trains, is designed to make children in the Portsmouth area aware of some of the major issues relating to train travel, which include treating staff and fellow passengers with respect, preventing vandalism and staying safe.
The ‘Off The Rails’ project includes an intensive one-hour lesson for Year 6 pupils (aged 10 to 11) which utilises a number of different techniques to demonstrate the unacceptability and dangers of such behaviour.
South West Trains employees also attend, to share their personal experiences. The children also have the opportunity to act out some scenarios, to show them how people react in different circumstances. They have also taken part in a train scene investigation unit exercise, in which they conduct a mock investigation of a major train incident.
The youngsters have had the opportunity to enter a railway-themed poster competition, where the winning posters are printed and displayed in schools and South West Trains stations in the area. The winning entrants will also receive tickets to a Portsmouth FC match and have the opportunity to ride in a train simulator as the driver.
Matthew Winnie, Head of Security & Revenue Protection for South West Trains, said: "Although levels of crime on the railway are actually very low, we are continually looking at ways to make our trains and stations even safer for our passengers and staff.
“We are determined to use the platform offered to us through this partnership to demonstrate some of the dangers, whilst giving children the opportunity to learn by making it real. South West Trains staff from different areas attend the session, so whether it is drivers, guards or rail safety officers, the children have always someone there who they can relate to.
“But it’s not all about the dangers. We also want to teach them about the different roles involved in running a safe railway, and the challenges our employees can encounter as they carry out their duties.
Stephen Henderson, Pompey goalkeeper, said: “It’s so important to be safe when you’re at stations. It’s so easy to drift over the yellow lines towards the track, so you’ve got to know what’s going on around you.”
Pompey’s footballer Joel Ward “I think it’s important to make people aware that stations aren’t playgrounds and that they are dangerous places where bad things can happen. I think we’re lucky enough to be in a position where we can help people, and part of that is being able to create awareness of various subjects like this. It’s such a simple message really because by just paying a bit more attention lives can be saved.”
The campaign, supported by Pompey footballers, also uses photography of the players in a number of scenarios to highlight the dangers of crossing the yellow safety line at the train station, trespassing on the railway and running on the platform.
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Notes to Editors
· South West Trains operates one of the busiest rail networks in Europe and runs almost 1700 trains a day from London Waterloo. The company was named as Passenger Operator of the Year at the 2011 National Rail Awards.
· South West Trains is part of Stagecoach Group, a leading international public transport group with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. Stagecoach employs around 35,000 people, and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.
· Stagecoach is one of UK’s biggest bus and coach operators. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach's 8,400 buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The company's business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge.
· Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast inter-city rail franchise.
· Stagecoach also operates the Supertram network in Sheffield.