Child rail safety drive on track

The campaign aims to deter rail vandals

A nationwide rail safety initiative is being launched in Scotland in a drive to reduce the number of rail deaths.

The Network Rail campaign, "No Messin", aims to reduce the number of young people in Glasgow and Edinburgh who trespass on the tracks.

The campaign will involve 10 free two-day sports games and music events for 20,000 young people aged 10 to 16.

There are about 27 million trespass cases on railways throughout the UK every year.

The Scottish leg of the campaign kicks-off at Drummond College in Edinburgh on Thursday, and will run during July and August.

Young people will have the chance to try out a range of activities from DJ lessons to skateboarding and martial arts.

The events will be run and managed by local clubs, and those taking part will be encouraged to continue with activities they enjoy.

Organisers said that by giving youngsters better ways to spend their time they could prevent pointless accidents.

Incidents across the UK include 640,000 reports of objects being placed on the tracks and four million objects being thrown at trains, some smashing windows and injuring drivers.