Train vandals 'could kill someone'

10:10am Sunday 20th July 2008

Comments (2)   Have your say »

Vandals who keep trying to derail trains by blocking tracks with piles of rubble could end up killing someone, police have warned.

Trains travelling at up to 60mph have been badly damaged after they ploughed into debris on the track or were pelted with stones from bridges.

Two trains have had to be taken out of service after the attacks on one section of a line in Bradford.

Groups of youths are thought to have piled the rubble on the tracks or rained stones down on passing trains from bridges. British Transport Police and drivers’ union officials now fear there could be fatal consequences as the rise in vandalism usually associated with school summer holidays kicks in.

Three major incidents have already been reported on a section of railway line between Bradford Interchange and New Pudsey in the Laisterdyke area in a matter of weeks.

The cabin window of one train was smashed, while the brakes of another were damaged when it struck large concrete slabs and bricks.

Inspector Glen Alderson, of the British Transport Police, said: “The concern for us is that it may well be that it is the same offenders who are responsible for these incidents. If that’s the case, they may continue to do so until they get caught.”

He said the section of track through Laisterdyke was a hot spot because there were no houses overlooking it so vandals think they will not get caught.

He said: “We know that trespassers are getting on to the lines at several places, mainly coming off the back of the Phoenix Way Industrial Estate off Dick Lane. We are in liaison with Network Rail to improve fencing but these people break through anyway. There are also level crossings that can’t be fenced off where they could walk down the line.”

Transport Police officers are stepping up both high-visibility and plain-clothes patrols to catch and deter vandals. They are riding alongside train drivers in “ghost trains” which can be halted if they think vandalism is about to be committed. A helicopter can also be called in from Network Rail. Officers are particularly monitoring an area from Ducketts Crossing, in Daleside Lane, to a bridge crossing the line close to Bradford Interchange in Hammerton Street.

In April, the Telegraph & Argus reported how vandals wedged a concrete block and scrap metal into points on the track near Hammerton Street, which police described as a deliberate attempt to derail a train.

In May a train driver was forced to make an emergency stop after a shopping trolley and part of a wooden wheelbarrow were thrown on to the line from the Dalcross footbridge in West Bowling, Bradford.

Vandalism has also been reported on the track running beneath a footbridge in Dalcross Grove, in Bowling.

Insp Alderson said: “These were deliberate acts to target trains travelling through the Laisterdyke area. I cannot emphasise strongly enough the dangers associated with this type of crime. People who trespass or commit crime on the railway are putting their own lives at risk as well as the lives of all the staff and passengers travelling on trains.”

Keith Norman, general secretary of the ASLEF train drivers’ union, said: “These are not harmless pranks – they are nothing but criminal and potentially lethal activities. This sort of vandalism has a seasonal attitude to it. It increases over the school holidays because schoolchildren are bored.”

A total of 15 route-crime offences were recorded in Bradford during May and June by the British Transport Police.

Anyone with any information about debris on the track off Dick Lane on July 3, at 10.30pm, or concerning two trains being hit with stones on the same line on July 14 at 5.30pm, should call the British Transport Police on 0800 405040.