A special episode of the much-loved children’s programme, Thomas & Friends®, is being released today to teach young children about rail safety.
As part of the Network Rail, Thomas & Friends campaign some of the show’s best-known characters including Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt are off on their latest adventure to visit some of London’s most iconic railway stations. Thomas and the gang will be taking part in three launch events on station concourses throughout the Easter holidays, and children are being invited to come along and enjoy the fun and engage with rail safety.
The events mark the launch of the exclusive episode of Thomas & Friends, aimed at three to six-year-olds, to gently raise awareness of the dangers of misusing the railway. The two-minute-long animation gives parents a useful way of starting a conversation about this important subject. In the episode, Thomas’ friend Diesel is being cheeky and learns his lesson when he travels too fast along the tracks in a game of red light, green light with Thomas and fellow engine Nia. Diesel learns about the dangers of misusing the railway and that it is more important to be safe, than to be silly. The film is available to watch here.
The campaign is being backed by comedian Sophie McCartney who is mum to nine-year-old Jack and six-year-old Evelyn, and The Sunday Times number one best-selling author of, ‘Tired and Tested: The Wild Ride into Parenthood’.
Sophie said: “I have young children myself and totally agree that rail safety is a subject that should be discussed more by parents. But knowing how to get the messaging right can be tricky. I love how Network Rail and Thomas & Friends have teamed up to inject some fun into this campaign which still has safety at its heart but will make parents and children much more receptive to what they are trying to teach, because let’s be honest, which child doesn’t love an episode of Thomas & Friends!”
Rupert Lown, chief health and safety officer at Network Rail said: “With leisure travel back to pre-pandemic levels, our stations are once again buzzing with life. It’s lovely seeing families off on exciting days out and having fun. But it’s important that children are made aware of the potential dangers surrounding the railway, so they know how to use it safely.
“Research* has shown us that most parents are very good at discussing road safety, but rail safety often gets forgotten about, or parents don’t know how to bring up the subject in an age-appropriate way with their children. Using Thomas & Friends makes it more light-hearted and creates an opportunity to bring up the subject of safety in a nurturing way.”
The launch events will be taking place at the following stations:
London Victoria – Monday 11 April at 11:30, 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30
London Bridge – Thursday 14 April at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 16:30
London Waterloo – Wednesday 20 April at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 16:30
*Research findings from Mumsnet conducted on behalf of Network Rail:
- Two thirds of parents identify that their children need to be spoken to about rail safety because they do not understand the dangers (66%).
- Families living in London are more likely to have talked about rail safety (56%) compared to 48% of parents who live outside of London.
The gap when boarding the train is more of a concern to those families living in London (48% vs 29% outside of London), whereas going on the track is a major worry to those not living in the capital (33% vs 9% living in London).
When asked to rank the most important areas of safety to teach their children, parents ranked road safety as highest and rail safety as lowest:
- Road safety (96%)
- Avoiding strangers (67%)
- Water / swimming safety in a pool (53%)
- Online and digital safety (44%)
- Rail safety (15%)
Research Methodology:
The survey was conducted by Mumsnet from 6th April and the 16th April 2020. 611 parents with at least one child aged 3 to 6 completed the survey. More than three quarters of these parents (77%) have more than 1 child.
Photo credit: Network Rail
