Railway safety

More than 100 Canadians are seriously injured or killed every year by trains.

One Hamilton school that overlooks rail tracks got a reminder that venturing on rail lines is never a good idea.

The students at Queen Victoria elementary school painted pictures to decorate the fence that separates them from thousands of tons of locomotive. CP police reminded students today that they should only ride a train from the inside.

“This is what the railway is for, it’s to get goods to where they need to be. It’s not for kids to go onto, the only safe place for them to cross is the designated crossings.” James Archdekin, CP police.

Robert Larman learned that lesson at 14-years old.

“Friends dared me to jump onto a slow moving train and being invincible of course I jumped on the train and as it picked up speed I feared so I jumped off the train and when my feet hit the ground I lost balance and I hit the train in a rolling motion and it knocked me to the ground and I went underneath the train and it cut my leg off.”

Now a director at War Amps, Larman works with young people who suffered similar injuries. Like 8-year old Kelsie, a Hamilton girl who lost her leg in April after she was hit by a train along the rail trail.

The safety tips don’t just benefit the kids, but the people who operate the massive machines.