‘Escape game’ about the danger of railway tracks for young people

They did that this afternoon with an escape game in the Guldenspoor College in Kortrijk.

Fewer reports in West Flanders than elsewhere

The intelligent closure along the railway in Kortrijk. 2.5 meters high and secured with cameras and an alarm system. Yet people still climb over it. Rail running remains an old sore in our province.

Thomas Baeken, spokesperson for Infrabel: “In West Flanders we see that more reports have been made of rail running than the year before. There was one extra case, so about the same. West Flanders is more likely to be at the bottom if you look at other provinces, but there are 49 reports of rail running. 49 too many. The real number will be even higher.”

Infrabel, together with the railway police, wants to point out the dangers of rail running, such as here in this class in Kortrijk. The main reason people walk on the tracks is because they want to take a shortcut.

“The main goal of ours is to make people aware not to do it”says Tony Schuiten of the Railway Police. “Winning the two minutes could get them under a train and maybe never come home.”

Escape Game

Through an escape game, young people are confronted with different situations in and around the track. Suddenly there is a wallet on the railway, a dilemma.

Sander De Lombaerde is enthusiastic about the game: “The game is instructive, also in an educational way, it highlights the dangers of trail running.” “When you talk about people who are in danger, we touch on the vulnerability of people and that is an ideal topic to discuss in religion class,” says Religion teacher Stephanie Penez.

In West Flanders, rail running is most common in the cities of Kortrijk and Bruges.