School safety program

The UK’s railways are one of the safest and most used railway networks in the world. However, incidents by children still occur, which is one reason safety on the railway is the railway industry’s top priority.

We work with our partners to deliver a comprehensive rail safety programme to children and young people across the country.

We continue to focus on primary schools as this age group are fascinated by trains and their varied interesting noises, people and environments. Combined with the feeling of movement and speed, it makes the idea and experience of rail travel a great adventure. This age group can, however, lack awareness of the dangers posed by the railway; trains travelling at high speed are not able to stop quickly and will hit any obstruction on the track. An understanding of how to stay safe in and around the railway at this age protects pupils as they grow into greater independence, preparing for the more complex personal safety issues of their teenage years and on into secondary school.

We use information gathered from Scotland’s Railway partners to identify locations, this includes sessions for schools in areas where new stations are being built and any areas that have seen an increase in unsafe activity around our network.

Network Rail in partnership with the rail industry launched a free, educational rail safety programme for children. Named “Switched On”, the programme teaches children about the dangers present around the railway. As well as making this available to school and educators nationwide, the programme is available to parents and carers at the Switched On website .

Schools wishing to get involved or find out more about ScotRail's safety education programme should email [email protected] .