When data from the first eight months of 2016 and 2017 were compared, it turned out that the number of thefts and acts of vandalism involving railway infrastructure had fallen by 45%. Around 300 Railway Protection Guard patrols pay particular attention to investment sites every day. Works between Poznań and Warsaw, in Kraków, between Lublin and Warsaw, between Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Warsaw, between Kraków and Katowice, and between Poznań and Szczecin are among those under supervision. Crossings and passages over the tracks are monitored. The Railway Protection Guard works closely on an ongoing basis with the police, carriers and the railway control centre.

“Protecting pedestrians and securing track investments are an increasingly significant part of the Railway Protection Guard’s activities. Effective work is possible thanks to the officers’ high mobility and the use of modern equipment. The Railway Protection Guard’s active measures reduced the number of thefts and acts of vandalism involving railway infrastructure by 45% during the first eight months of 2017 compared with the previous year,” said Paweł Boczek, deputy commander of the Railway Protection Guard.

The officers not only monitor the security of the area, but also conduct preventive campaigns for the safety of people using the railway. They reduce illegal track crossings, including on routes used only by trains and technical vehicles transporting materials and equipment. Additional campaigns were conducted in connection with the start of the school year and children and young people crossing railway areas.

Careless behaviour by pedestrians can cause both tragedy and serious disruption to transport where traffic runs on only one track because work is under way on the adjacent one. Suspending traffic because of an accident causes train delays and significant social costs.

From January to September, officers apprehended 84 infrastructure thieves and inspected hundreds of scrap-metal collection points. Effective security at sites undergoing modernisation is possible thanks to the use of advanced equipment. Officers use mobile monitoring centres—special operational vehicles with cameras for observing the area day and night. Foot patrols are accompanied by specially trained dogs. At night, officers use modern thermal-imaging and night-vision devices. Camera traps installed along the main routes alert the nearest patrol to unauthorised people on railway property.

Examples:

  • On 12 September, at Tarnowskie Góry station, Railway Protection Guard officers apprehended two perpetrators of overhead contact-line theft who had tools for cutting metal. They recovered more than 500 metres of electrical cables.
  • On 5 September, thanks to the use of camera traps, five people were caught red-handed cutting railway tracks with blowtorches on the disused Ostrołęka–Szczytno line.
  • On 2 September, near Warszawa Wschodnia Towarowa station, Railway Protection Guard officers caught two perpetrators red-handed stealing cables supplying semaphore signals.

This year, the Railway Protection Guard has recovered railway property worth PLN 65,000. Patrols protect the infrastructure from vandalism every day, helping ensure that trains run smoothly and safely.