Trains are not like cars. They’re much heavier and can’t stop quickly.
You might not always be able to hear a train coming.
Always cross tracks using bridges, tunnels or level crossings.
Wait till the train has stopped completely before climbing aboard or getting off.
As long as you stay off the train tracks…there’s really no way a train can hurt you.
At a level crossing, If the bells there aren’t ringing, and the barrier arms are up, it’s generally safe to cross. But always make sure to look both ways anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.
Level crossings are designed to give people on foot and in cars plenty of warning that a train, or maybe even two trains, are coming. When those bells are ringing, and the barrier arms are down stay off the tracks. Even after the train is gone - if the bars are still down and the bells are still ringing, there could be a second train coming, so just keep waiting. A little bit of patience could save your life.
Even walking alongside railway tracks is bad, because trains are wider than the tracks are. You might think you’re safe, and get clipped by a passing train.
Remember the GOLDEN rule - Tracks are for trains!
Did you know :
There are 2,178 bridges and viaducts to carry the railways across the many gorges, rivers, and streams in New Zealand. The longest railway bridge is the one over the Rakaia River, in Canterbury, spanning 1,743 m.
There are 149 railway tunnels in New Zealand. The three longest tunnels are Kaimai (8.9 km) between Tauranga and Morrinsville, Rimutaka (8.8 km) between Upper Hutt and Featherston, and Otira (8.5 km), between Otira and Arthur's Pass.
The Seikan rail tunnel is the world’s longest rail tunnel at 54 km (Japan)
Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends feature in 26 books written by the Reverend W. Awdry, who wrote the stories for his son Christopher. Many of the stories are based on actual events on real railways. The first book of the series was made in 1945, but doesn't actually have Thomas in it!
In J K Rowling's famous Harry Potter books, Harry and his friends take the Hogwart’s Express from King's Cross Station to Hogsmeade Station. Its engine number in the film is 5972. In the stories, the train leaves from Platform 9¾, which is between Platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross, but they don't seem to be much like the real platforms, because J K Rowling was actually thinking of Euston station in London when she was writing the first book! Today, King's Cross Station still has no Platform 9¾, but it does have a ‘Platform 9a’ and a ‘Platform 9b’. The building containing platforms 9 and 10 has been decorated with a ‘Platform 9¾’ sign, complete with a luggage trolley ‘stuck’ halfway through the wall as tribute to Harry Potter and his amazing adventures !
The longest straight stretch of railway is in Australia. The part without any curves is 478 kilometres (301 miles) long.
The heaviest train in the world was a freight train in Australia in 2001. It was 7.3 kilometres (4.6 miles) long and weighed 95,000 tonnes. That’s as heavy as 2.8 million ten-year-olds or more than 27,000 elephants!
The fastest train in the world is the TGV in France. It can go at 515 kilometres (322 miles) an hour - four and a half times faster than a car on the motorway. In test runs, the French TGV reached speeds of 584km per hour and when it braked it took 10 miles to stop.
The largest station in the world is Grand Central in New York. It has 44 platforms.