Network Rail
There are around 19,000 recorded trespass incidents across the rail network each year, including around 4,000 involving children and young people but historically rail safety was not part of the national curriculum in schools and doesn't get as much attention compared to wider safety issues. To reduce an annual rise in incident and fatality numbers, Network Rail wanted to develop a new programme informing young people about rail safety and address potentially dangerous behaviour.
In conjunction with the wider rail industry we created a free programme called “Switched On” aimed at improving awareness and understanding of rail safety for 3-16 year olds. The programme takes an innovative approach to targeting young people in three age groups (3-6, 7-11 and 12-16), with a range of age-specific films, interactive games, classroom activities, on-demand videos and live events designed to aid behaviour change, helping students to develop hazard-spotting skills and to identify risky behaviour around the rail network, benefitting them now and in the future, as well as seeking to reduce the impact on those directly involved and the wider community.
The resources are regularly used across thousands of schools in the UK and by rail professionals delivering regional rail safety education sessions, with particular impact in areas within a 5-mile radius of high incident numbers and resulting in a notable decline in trespass numbers. To date the programme has reached over 20,00 schools and 8.6 million young people. Ahead of Rail Safety becoming a mandatory part of the Personal, Social, Health, and Economic (PSHE) curriculum in England as of September 2026, Switched On was enhanced to offer extensive, curriculum-linked resources for educators to easily access and use straight away as they embed rail safety into their teaching.
We. Social Impact team's expert knowledge and guidance has helped produce easy to use, engaging and life-saving educational materials with the added bonus of their team being a joy to work with.
Louise McNally, Suicide and Trespass Prevention Lead, Network Rail
