Home Brussels Identification and information stickers to be placed at level crossings

Identification and information stickers to be placed at level crossings

by editor
Infrabel, which runs Belgium’s railways, will soon equip each of the country’s 1,700 level crossings with a sticker bearing its number, street name and locality, as well as a telephone number to call when necessary, Mediahuis newspapers reported on Tuesday.
The stickers will be clearly visible and will be placed on both sides of the level crossing.

The move is aimed at saving precious time that is often lost in the panic following incidents at level crossings because people do not know how to identify them and whom to contact.

Each year the various level crossings scattered throughout the country are the scene of incidents, some of them fatal. Despite awareness campaigns run by Infrabel, and additional safety measures that have been implemented, 51 accidents, in which 9 persons died, were registered last year, according to figures from the railway company.

The identification stickers will be posted during the course of 2019. They will enable persons in need to take adequate measures promptly and, in particular, to alert the emergency services of the level crossing in question. These will in turn be able to alert the general coordination centre.

“The aim of these stickers is to reduce the number of accidents,” Infrabel spokesman Thomas Baeken stressed. “And if there are fewer accidents on the railway network, there will also be fewer delays.”

Maria Novak

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