The County Community Trust have been working closely together with Network Rail recently, using virtual reality to teach primary school children about the dangers of the railway.
The goal of the initiative is to drive down the number of railway trespass incidents in the North West, by combining sport and railway safety sessions using the high-tech headgear.
Since November 2021 there have been 2,127 trespass incidents across Network Rail’s North West route. Between March 2021 and March 2022 there were 19,408 trespass incidents on Britain’s rail network – with a quarter of those involving under 18s.
To address this, the County Community Trust have teamed up with Network Rail to work with young people in Greater Manchester. Since the summer, we have been working together to encourage healthy play and railway safety awareness.
Watch the video below to see how virtual reality is helping kids understand the dangers of the railway:
Matthew Bailey, County Community Trust Partnerships Manager, said:
“It’s great to be teaming up with Network Rail so we can both promote the work we both do for local communities. The feedback we’ve had so far from schools and groups taking part has been really positive, with the virtual reality and football mix proving to be a real hit with the children.”
Chris McLaughlin, Network Rail Community Safety Manager, said:
“There’s a real buzz from the children when they use the headsets, and however hard I try I never get a reaction like that from my PowerPoint presentations. Combining the lessons with the football sessions feels like we’re onto a real winner.
“Working with a sporting team like Stockport County and their Community Trust team has so much more influence and it really helps us to deliver our important railway safety message alongside an agency which people already respect, love and trust.”
A recent session took place at Dial Park Primary School, when 45 year 6 children received their important safety lesson.
James Clark, Headteacher at Dial Park Primary, said:
“It’s been great to see the children really engage with these lessons and even though they’re in the safety of the classroom they can be transported to a potentially dangerous place to see for themselves what the consequences could be. I’m certain it’s a lesson the children will never forget, and they now know the railway is not a place to trespass for any reason.”
The children were shown two different scenarios through the headsets leading up to a dangerous outcome.
This included being in the train cab with a driver as they approached a trespasser on the track, and then from the perspective of a group of teenagers leading up to one of them touching electrified steel rails on the ground which power trains.
This is what three of the children thought:
Tyler said: “It felt cool but when the train was coming it felt scary at the same time. It’s just dangerous you can get hit by a train or you can get electrocuted.”
Samara said: “I thought it was really cool technology and it felt like you were in the real place.”
Jessica said: “What I learned was don’t trespass on the railway, it’s dangerous you could end up in hospital, don’t do it.”
The sessions form part of the rail industry’s joint You Vs Train campaign to discourage young people from misusing the railway.
For more information about this important partnership, contact the County Community on 0161-266-2700
