Colas Rail UK Go For Gold With Rail Safe Friendly

Colas Rail UK has become Gold Partners with the Rail Safe Friendly (RSF) initiative to promote rail safety to schoolchildren. 

 

RSF was established as a digital education provider on the dangers of trespassing on the railways to at the time of writing, over 4,000 schools nationwide. 

 

The initiative was set up in early 2023 by Learn Live following the collaboration of Colas Rail UK, Learn Live and Network Rail (NR) on Harrison’s Story as part of NR’s ‘You Vs Train’ campaign. Harrison’s Story is the cautionary tale of Harrison Ballantine, who tragically passed away retrieving a football from a nearby train depot. 

 

Educating children about safety on or near the railway is close to the heart of Colas Rail’s core values. Harrison’s mum Elizabeth is a close friend of Laura Cook, Rail Services Fatigue Manager at Colas Rail UK, such a tragic event within our industry instigated an educational project led by Colas Rail in conjunction with Network Rail, which has since grown and evolved into the RSF initiative. 

 

Colas Rail UK CEO, Jean-Pierre Bertrand said “Caring for our site neighbours and local communities is at the core of our culture and the RSF initiative embodies this perfectly. 

“We’re delighted to be joining as gold members and playing our part to share these crucial safety messages to schools across the UK.” 

 

Stuart Heaton, Managing Director of Rail Safe Friendly and Learn Live, said: “We are delighted to welcome Colas Rail UK to the RSF programme. Through their support we will be able to reach even more children with vital rail safety awareness with the aim of saving lives and preventing injuries on the country’s rail network and in yards, depots and sidings.