New fences to prevent rail crime

The two most common offences are trespass and vandalism

Thousands of metres of steel fencing is being erected around railways lines to help prevent crime.

Network Rail will spend £710,000 putting up fences at more than 30 locations around south Wales.

Sites known to have problems with children trespassing and reports of near-misses will be tackled first, such as Splott in Cardiff.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said south Wales was being targeted because it had high levels of railway crime.

Earlier this summer, rail chiefs published the top 10 worst sites in Wales where young people trespass on the tracks.

Gowerton, Pyle, Llanelli and Pontypridd were top of the list for trespass or vandalism, the most common offences.

Almost 1,000 incidents of railway crime were reported in Wales last year with half of these by young people.

In January this year, passengers had to be evacuated from a train when it collided with a large metal object left on the line at Llanbradach near Caerphilly.

Llanbradach is one of the areas that will have the fencing.

Other areas to benefit include Bridgend, Newport and parts of the network in the south-east Wales valleys.

Most of the work will be completed by Christmas.

Mark Langman of Network Rail said: "Erecting fences is another effective tool in our armoury to tackle railway crime.

"Our best fighting tool however is prevention and getting safety messages across by engaging with young people in schools, local youth groups and community groups."

Railway crime is estimated to cost the industry £265m each year and Network Rail spends about £3.5m annually to remove graffiti on railway property.