Track photo foolishness

The Public Transport Authority has warned that people trespassing on railway tracks to take photographs are risking serious injury or death, as well as prosecution.

The PTA is aware of a number of incidents where photographers and their subjects have stepped on to level crossings and operating railways to snap their photos. Some have been published by mainstream media.

Spokesman David Hynes said it was a disturbing trend.

“An operating railway track is not the place for a photograph,” Mr Hynes said.

“We have recently seen images of people of all ages - from very small children and teenagers, right through to adults (including wedding parties) posing in the middle of the railway.

“Even stepping over the yellow line at a station to pose for a photo represents a significant risk. 

“Railway lines, just like a busy road, are inherently dangerous places. There is no good reason for anyone to trespass on the rail network, particularly for a photograph.”

The PTA’s new Stay off the Tracks education campaign takes a good look at this kind of behaviour, and features hard-hitting signs near crossings, on fencing and at platforms across the Transperth network.

The campaign includes posters of teenage basketballer who has had his arm amputated in a rail accident, an absent-minded businessman who jumps on to the tracks to retrieve his phone, and devastated family members mourning the death of a loved one.

 “Like the Stay off the Tracks campaign says – if you get hit by a train, other people will feel it.

“So don’t become another statistic, and don’t turn a celebration into a tragedy; there is no photo in the world important enough to risk your life.”

For more information about the PTA’s rail safety program, Right Track, visit www.righttrack.wa.gov.au