Special training for rail staff to remove swans blocking busy routes

Rail staff have been given specialist training from a swan sanctuary in Surrey to remove the animals from busy routes.

Swans resulted in the most delays to passengers on Network Rail's southern region Wessex route.

The creatures can become aggressive when approached and removing the protected species can be particularly challenging.

Network Rail teamed up with the Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton to give front line railway workers the skills to quickly and safely remove swans from the tracks.

"The railway tracks are for trains, not people and animals," said Tom Desmond, Network Rail’s Wessex route operations director.

"Trains, when travelling at full speed, need the length of several football pitches to stop and, unlike cars, can’t swerve out of the way of obstacles.

"There are also invisible dangers such as the electrified third rail. Everybody loses when a person risks their lives on the railway.

“Our first priority is to ensure everyone gets home safe, every day, be it humans or animals. Swans are the most impactful animal trespassers for disrupting passenger services and our partnership with the Swan Sanctuary provides our front-line teams with invaluable skills and training to tackle the challenge of quickly and safely removing our feathered friends from the railway," Tom explained.

Latest figures show Incidents of animals trespassing on Britain’s railways are recorded around four times per day on average.

Network Rail said there were 1,432 reports of creatures intruding onto rail lines in the 12 months to the end of March.

Deer, which tend to live in rural, forested areas which are often alongside the railway, topped the list of animal trespassers with 349 incidents during the year.

They were followed by sheep (177), birds (172), cows (143) and swans (143).

Rail trespassing is 13 times more likely to be carried out by people than animals, with the former responsible for more than 19,300 incidents over the same period.

Rail operator, c2c, posted a video on social media showing a tortoise walking along the tracks at Southend Central station.

The tortoise, named Tony, was rescued by rail workers before being collected by his owner, who said he had been missing from home for a fortnight.

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