Rail safety education has never been more important.
Each year, thousands of trespass incidents take place across the UK rail network – with around 4,000 of these involving children. That’s 77 children per week putting themselves in a position of serious danger. These incidents are often the result of split-second decisions or a lack of awareness, underlining the critical role education plays in helping young people recognise risk and make safer choices.
That need is only growing. From September 2026, rail safety education will become a mandatory part of the PSHE curriculum in England – placing a renewed focus on how schools equip young people with the knowledge and judgement to stay safe around the railway.
That’s where Switched On, developed by Network Rail and the wider rail industry, is making a difference.
As a long-standing partner of Rail Forum, Switched On is a free, curriculum-linked rail safety programme for young people aged 3–16. Through age-targeted films, interactive activities and classroom-ready resources, it supports educators to build pupils’ foundational rail safety knowledge, grow their awareness of risky behaviour, develop hazard-spotting skills, and strengthen decision-making around the railway.
This Rail Safety Week, Switched On is bringing this learning to life through a structured programme of daily resource spotlights – helping educators deliver potentially life-saving content in a way that is simple, flexible and impactful.
Each day of the week focuses on a key rail safety theme, with carefully selected resources that build knowledge progressively. From understanding the railway environment and recognising key signs, to practising behavioural judgement and exploring real-life scenarios, the content is designed to support young people to think critically and act safely.
Crucially, the approach is flexible. Educators can follow the full week, building learning day-by-day, or dip into individual resources to suit their timetable – whether in lessons, assemblies or shorter learning moments.
The programme is tailored across three age groups:
- For ages 3–6: Story-led learning introduces the railway environment and helps children understand foundational rail safety concepts.
- For ages 7–11: Interactive activities and scenarios support pupils to recognise hazards and apply their decision-making skills.
- For ages 12–16: More complex, real-life contexts explore risk, peer influence and the consequences of unsafe behaviour.
By meeting young people where they are – and reinforcing learning through repetition, application and reflection – Switched On helps turn awareness into action.
For educators, it offers a practical, ready-to-use way to deliver essential safety education without adding to workload. For the rail industry and its partners, it plays an important role in building safer behaviours and reducing preventable incidents.
Rail Safety Week is a powerful moment to focus attention – but the impact goes far beyond a single week. By supporting educators to embed these lessons early, Switched On is helping to create a generation of young people who are truly Switched On to rail safety, now and in the future.
Explore the Switched On website to learn more: https://switchedonrailsafety.co.uk/