Public awareness campaign aimed at reducing trespassing fatalities
MONTREAL, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - With trespassing being the leading cause of rail-related fatalities in Canada, CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) is marking Rail Safety Week through May 5, 2013, with a public awareness campaign stressing the deadly risks of trespassing on railway tracks and property. CN Police are urging the public to call CN Police at 1-800-465-9239 to report unsafe behaviour on railway property.
CN Police Chief Stephen Covey said: "Disobeying railway crossing signals or trespassing on railway property is dangerous and illegal. We cannot tolerate that individuals put their lives and those of others at risk. Through a combination of education and enforcement, we aim to change attitudes and behaviors towards rail safety. We must reduce injuries and fatalities on or near railway crossings, tracks, and CN property."
According to Operation Lifesaver (OL), a national public-rail safety program sponsored by Transport Canada and the Railway Association of Canada, crossing and trespassing incidents across the country are on the rise. In 2012, there were 261 railway crossing and trespasser accidents in Canada, including 78 fatalities and 53 serious injuries (click here to view the OL news release).
CN Police will be out in full force during Rail Safety Week, conducting safety initiatives at commuter stations, CN intermodal terminals and railway crossings in Canada and the United States. CN will visit commuter stations to target a larger audience of rail users, particularly parents who will be urged to pass on safety information to their children.
For more information about the CN safety initiatives in your area, click here.
OL and its partners created Rail Safety Week in 2003 to raise public awareness of the potential dangers at highway/railway crossings and from trespassing on railway property.
CN has been promoting railway safety for more than 25 years through its All Aboard for Safety community education program. Every year, CN Police officers make hundreds of All Aboard for Safety presentations and talk to more than 300,000 children and adults at schools and community events in Canada and the United States about the importance of safety and the dangers of walking or playing on or near railway tracks. Part of the strength of this program is the collaborative relationship with major community safety partners such as Operation Lifesaver and Parachute.
CN - Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries - spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.
SOURCE CN
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