Railroad walking killed six people in 2022 | Interior

The number of reports of people walking on, over or next to the tracks where this is not allowed peaked at over 800 in 2017. After that, the numbers went down every year, at least until last year. At that time there were 649 reports of rail runners, 10 percent more than in 2021. And for six rail runners, this was fatal, compared to five in 2021.

Most reports were in Flanders (294). The statistics also show that track walking is most often done in full track (so somewhere between two stations) and that Wednesdays and Fridays are popular, as is the month of June. Furthermore, almost half of the reports are received between 3 and 7 pm. This also includes the evening rush hour, the busiest time of the day on the railways. Taking a shortcut is the most commonly heard explanation for rail walking.

Rail runners not only endanger their lives, but they also have a major impact on train traffic. After all, trains often have to slow down or stop when there are reports. And if there is a collision, train traffic is often halted for hours. Last year, trains were delayed by track runners for a total of 13,409 minutes, or an average of 10 hours a day, according to Infrabel.

The rail network manager tries to secure the approximately fifty hotspots along the 3,600 kilometers of railway lines, where track runners are most often detected, by means of, for example, closures, trip mats and cameras. There is also a focus on awareness-raising and on inspections together with the police. Anyone caught walking on the tracks will be fined 300 euros (or 500 euros in case of recidivism). Last year, almost 1,500 PVs were issued for track running.