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