Today is the last day of national railway safety week in Canada. Being safe may be one thing, but there are also some laws surrounding railways that a lot of people aren't aware of according to Deputy Police Chief Murray Cowan.

“When it comes to penalties with respect to the trains themselves, they vary depending on the circumstances. When we talk about safety in general, one thing that the public doesn't often realize is that unless you are crossing a railway property at an intersection or on a street where there is a marked railway crossing, Its actually against the law to trespass on railway property."

Illegally crossing railway tracks is an arrestable offense under the railway act.

“Given the circumstances surrounding railway safety, that's why that law is in place because there is just way too many accidents involving trains and as anyone would know the train often wins. The consequences are devastating whenever someone is involved in that whether its a train involving just a pedestrian, which had happened or a train versus a vehicle of any kind. There is usually serious injuries if not fatalities at those locations, so its something that's taken seriously."

Murray said that the police service continues to work very closely with their partners, CN and CP police around the community to continue to enforce and promote railroad safety. “When it comes to train safety week, that's exactly what we are doing. We team up with them throughout the week, and we are doing different types of enforcement as well as educational components to some of the partnerships that we are doing with them."

While railway offenses aren't a big problem in Estevan, Murray said the Estevan Police Service hopes to continue to get the word out and to educate the public about railway safety.