Rail safety warning's issued with nearly 2000 trespassing incidents across Kent

Many people's commutes are being impacted with Gillingham station being one of the main hotspots.

Transcript

00:00 750 to 25,000 volts is what the trains on Kent's network rail routes are powered by,

00:07 enough to kill or seriously injure someone.

00:11 But that hasn't stopped the trespassers climbing onto the county's tracks.

00:15 Latest figures show the number of those illegally entering rail lines in Kent alone

00:21 has increased by 15%.

00:22 More than 1,700 trespass incidents have been recorded over the past year

00:28 and it's been affecting commuters relying on the service.

00:31 I work, I'm a nurse, I work at the Medway hospital and at one point I was going into work

00:38 in the morning and there was a trespasser so they had to cancel the train

00:42 which meant then I was late in for my shift.

00:46 It's very inconvenient when that happens because generally there was no other trains coming in

00:52 so I had to get a taxi into work.

00:55 I don't think enough is being done, I think it should be absolutely made illegal

00:58 because it inconveniences so many people and those kind of disruptions not only disrupt

01:04 people's day-to-day lives but they can also affect health outcomes even.

01:09 Dillingham has been named as one of the key hotspots for trespassers on railways

01:14 and that includes young people under the age of 18 who are involved in these incidents as well.

01:19 Other stations include Gravesend, Ramsgate, Swanley and Ashford.

01:25 With 320 trespassing incidents involving young people,

01:29 Network Rail have issued safety warnings to create awareness and keep people safe.

01:34 The real message is about warning the public of the dangers of trespassing on the railway.

01:40 It's an extremely dangerous environment.

01:42 Unfortunately we're seeing rises across the country.

01:45 It's probably a little bit higher than we would like in Kent.

01:47 Only a couple of weeks ago we had a number of incidents involving individuals at Dillingham.

01:52 We work quite closely with schools and education particularly on the Kent route

01:56 as well as security patrols that we have running.

02:00 We work closely with the British Transport Police.

02:02 They have a disruption team that works in Kent looking at those hotspot locations.

02:06 But as we approach the school holidays I think it's really important that parents

02:10 have that conversation with their children as well because as much as we can we can't reach

02:14 everybody. Again just to reinforce that message please, please, please do not trespass on the railway.

02:20 Though the number of young trespassers has gone down by 8%,

02:24 they say figures are still too high.

02:27 They're urging people to stay off the tracks and educate themselves on the dangers of trespassing

02:32 on the railway.

02:34 Mahima Abedin for KMTV in Dillingham.