Infrabel key figures for 2012:

• 3592 km of railway lines and 6468 of railway tracks
• 1857 level crossings on the Belgian rail network including 201 only in the Port of Antwerp
• 52 accidents at level crossings on the Belgian rail network including 14 only in the Port of Antwerp, representing 30% of all accidents at level crossings on the Belgian rail network: average of 15 accidents in the Port from 2005 to 2012
• 13 fatalities on the Belgian rail network

After their campaign in the Port of Antwerp please read
http://uic.org/com/uic-e-news/342 or www.infrabel.be/en/crossthetracksafely

INFRABEL organised several smaller campaigns at the beginning of the school year, each directed at a different target group to create awareness about accidents at level crossings.

1. A school calendar that teachers can use in their class every day with a unique design and original drawings. Every kindergarten and primary school in Belgium was targeted.
About 112,000 copies were distributed to schools, one copy per teacher. Teachers liked the calendar very much, found it practical and hung it in their classroom and talked about it and the safety rules mentioned on the calendar.

They also collaborated with four Belgian newspapers (1.6 million readers), inserting the calendar free of charge in the central pages of the edition. The result was very positive towards the public for INFRABEL, the editors of newspapers and shopkeepers. INFRABEL also made radio spots.

2. Website: INFRABEL also published dedicated web pages on level crossing safety and trespass issues http://www.infrabel.be/fr/a-propos-dinfrabel/securite to provide simple answers to questions from people asking about safety on and around the railway tracks; to tell people what Infrabel has been doing to constantly improve safety on and around tracks; to create awareness about accidents at level crossings and on the tracks. They issued animated films, safety topics explained in easy words, published pictures and films to make it all more concrete.

Please visit

http://youtu.be/U1aSMRhCdeY in Flemish or

http://youtu.be/eH6BAvcIGiE in French

They also deployed field actions using their own security/safety teams and police forces, to create awareness about trespassing and accidents at level crossings. During week 1 they carried out awareness actions by distributing 5,000 flyers at 20 different sites. During week 2 the police took enforcement measures by carrying out checks at level crossings: 93 people were fined. They also organised a press conference; as a result the campaign was covered on all national television and radio channels and by all important newspapers. Before the field action they also had two hidden cameras at two level crossings. This footage was used by national TV channels.

See also http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.francais/videotheque/fra.130925_passages_Frans

INFRABEL is starting a new campaign for 2014 aimed at truck drivers.

For further information please contact: Tine Verheyden – INFRABEL Project Leader External Communication tine.verheyden@infrabel.be visit http://www.infrabel.be/fr/a-propos-dinfrabel/securite and fonverne@uic.org visit www.ilcad.org