During the summer holidays, more than 3,000 officers ensure the safety of both commuters travelling to work and people using holiday trains. Patrols focus primarily on domestic and international holiday passenger trains. In addition, monitoring covers trains carrying children to summer camps.

To effectively ensure travellers’ safety, the Railway Protection Guard has also increased the frequency of observation at all major railway stations, station buildings and platforms, and more frequently checks service crossings on bridges and viaducts to prevent unauthorized people—especially children and young people—from entering them. In addition, Railway Protection Guard employees carry out preventive measures intended to protect travellers from dangerous incidents and theft.

How safe is it?

On railway lines and in station areas, the Railway Protection Guard uses nine mobile monitoring centre vehicles, while thermal-imaging binoculars and night-vision devices used during patrols ensure particularly effective work at night.

Places where people illegally cross the tracks are being monitored more closely. Despite signs, fencing and warnings, some pedestrians treat railway bridges and viaducts as a way to shorten their route. Railway Protection Guard officers remind the public that people caught illegally crossing the tracks or using infrastructure without authorization may receive a fine or face court proceedings.

Additional preventive patrols also operate in areas not covered by monitoring. “We also pay particular attention to securing railway infrastructure, especially elements most vulnerable to theft or vandalism. These measures serve the overall safety of railway traffic and help eliminate train delays,” says Paweł Boczek, deputy chief commander of the Railway Protection Guard for Protection.

How can education be delivered through play?

At summer picnics and fairs, representatives of the Railway Protection Guard, together with coordinators of the “Safe Level Crossing—Stop the Risk!” campaign, also provide information, education and guidance on proper behaviour when crossing railway-road crossings.

So far, such presentations have taken place, among other locations, in Warsaw and Grodzisk Wielkopolski, where Railway Protection Guard officers not only explained the general rules of safe rail travel but also presented, among other things, equipment used in their daily service.

In the near future, coordinators of the Safe Level Crossing campaign and Railway Protection Guard representatives with a mobile monitoring centre can be met on 8 July in Bielsko-Biała as part of the International Educational Project “Railway in Miniature,” and on 28 July at Krzyżtopór Castle in Ujazd.

Want to travel safely by train during the summer holidays?

Follow these simple rules:

  • arrive at the station early enough, listen carefully to announcements and make sure you have a valid ticket with you
  • be careful when boarding and getting off
  • do not leave luggage unattended, so as not to trigger a security procedure
  • do not lean out of the window while the train is moving
  • be cautious around fellow passengers, do not accept refreshments from them
  • take only the money you need, and keep cash in different, discreet places
  • smoke only in designated areas and extinguish cigarette ends thoroughly
  • ensure children’s safety
  • be careful at railway crossings—both as a driver and as a pedestrian
  • cross the tracks only at designated places.

If necessary, travellers can contact the Railway Protection Guard emergency number—22 474 00 00around the clock.