A Day on Safety Train
What is the Canadian Safety Train Express?
The Canadian Safety Train Express, based out of Cudworth, SK, provides education on railway safety using instructors, educational and safety awareness materials, a simulation machine and the train itself.
By being on a train, participants will get a better feel for its size and power, encouraging them to take rail safety more seriously. We want our target audiences to get excited about railway safety and to promote what they learn and experience, thus reducing the number of railway-related incidents and accidents.
Rail Simulations, Inc., has donated a locomotive simulation machine called LocoSim™, a multi-functional simulator that uses actual control hardware combined with a graphical interface to create a multitude of real-life scenarios. The simulator uses detailed models of train and track dynamics to provide realistic scenarios that will be customized to meet our needs.
This simulator will be instrumental in helping us achieve our goals and objectives. Our target groups will be able to see what happens when, for example:
- Someone attempts to outrun a train
- There is a trespasser on railway tracks and property
- How long it takes to stop the train at various speeds and in various weather conditions.
Having participants at the control stand to see firsthand what happens in the locomotive cab during various situations will be crucial to our teaching.
The Canadian Safety Train Express also uses Augmented Reality, which uses devices such as tablets and phones to bring digital components into the real world.
Whom do we need to educate?
Our project target groups include both youth groups and the general public, specifically those who reside in areas where railway companies have operations and where there is a history of high trespassing and crossing incidents.
These include:
- Children from K-6
- Pre-teens
- Teenagers
- Drivers Ed students
- Young males aged 18-35*
* As data demonstrates that over the last three years they have been heavily involved in trespassing & crossing incidents.
Our two main goals are:
- To educate our target audience on rail safety, specifically to avoid trespassing and crossing accidents.
- A reduction in trespassing and crossing incidents in areas where the safety train presentations are given.