Kids will be taught to stay off railway tracks while drones sent up to hunt trespassers in fresh crackdown on rail chaos

NewsPolitics SCHOOLCHILDREN will be taught to stay off railway tracks while drones are sent up to hunt trespassers in a major crackdown on rail disruption. The Government is making rail safety lessons compulsory in schools from September as it battles a surge in dangerous track intrusions. Publicly owned train operators are also deploying drones to spot trespassers before they can bring the network to a standstill Credit: Alamy Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander Credit: Getty Images Publicly owned train operators are also deploying drones to spot trespassers before they can bring the network to a standstill. It comes after new figures revealed railway trespass incidents have more than doubled in the past decade, soaring from 6,415 in 2014/15 to 13,921 last year. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! The incidents were linked to an estimated £85.5million in delays across the rail network last year alone. Every incident can force trains to stop while emergency services respond and lines are declared safe, causing misery for thousands of passengers. Ministers hope teaching kids about the dangers of trespassing from an early age will help drive down the number of incidents. The lessons will cover the risks of entering railway tracks, using level crossings safely and avoiding other dangerous behaviour around the rail network. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told The Sun: “Publicly owned operators are deploying drones across the network to identify trespassers and prevent disruption and the British Transport Police is getting a boost to its budget to put hundreds more officers on the frontline. ” From September, rail safety education will also become part of the curriculum in England so young people understand the dangers our railways can pose. Most read in The Sun “Bringing our railways back into public ownership will put safety and reliability at the heart of our network. “Great British Railways will bring track and train together, allowing us to tackle trespassing through a joined-up approach to operations and education, with better technology and stronger enforcement to stop journeys being disrupted.” Trespassing on the railway is a criminal offence and offenders can be fined up to £1,000. The Government is also investing in fencing, targeted patrols and safety campaigns at known trespass hotspots. Comment now