Train In-Cab Camera Surveillance Catches Near Miss

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This is the horrifying moment a young boy plays chicken with a high-speed train - and scrambles to safety by just one second.

Cctv footage taken from a camera in the driver's cab shows the unknown lad standing on the track as the train approaches.

As the driver frantically applies the brakes, the hooded youngster struggles to haul himself up from the tracks.

The train then roars past, narrowly missing the youngster as he lies face-down on the platform at Rochford in Essex.

He can count himself very lucky indeed.

Network Rail revealed yesterday that 49 people have died trespassing on tracks between April 2009 and March 2010. And they claimed children were behind almost 3,400 incidents of trespass and vandalism in the same period - or 10 every single day.

Some 180 bikes were hurled on railway lines as well as 76 shopping trolleys, 55 traffic cones, seven prams, five dustbins, three TVs, a bouncy castle and four trampolines, including one dropped from a bridge on to a train.

It claims that the total number of train crimes committed by under-18s has fallen by a third since 2008/09.

Robin Gisby of Network Rail said: "It's good to see the number of incidents involving young people coming down.

But far too many continue to risk their lives by taking a misguided short cut or, worse, messing around on the tracks.

"Unlike cars, trains cannot swerve and can take the length of 20 football pitches to stop."

Trespassing on the railway carries a fine of up to £1,000.

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Crowther of British Transport Police said: "Anyone who messes around near the tracks is not only risking a court appearance, they are putting their lives at risk."