Public awareness campaign aimed at reducing trespassing
fatalities
HOMEWOOD, IL,
April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - With
trespassing being the leading cause of rail-related fatalities in
the United States, 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 behavior on railway property.
CN Police Chief Bobby Walker
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."
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 the
United States and Canada.
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 blitzes in your area,
click here.
In 2013, there were 2,802 grade crossing and railway trespassing
accidents in the United States,
causing 683 fatalities, according to the Federal Railroad
Administration. More than 50 per cent of trespassing incidents
resulted in fatalities.
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 the United States and Canada 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 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