Alarming footage of a train almost hitting a young man at Woonona station has been released by Sydney Trains.
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The footage shows the level crossing at Woonona, its warning lights starting to flash.
As the boom gates start to lower, one man walks briskly across the tracks, just squeezing past the closing automatic gate on the other side.
Another man rushes across and stands on the other side looking back and then up the track at an oncoming train, apparently urging someone to hurry up.
Then his friend darts across the tracks, making it to the other side just a second before the train flies past.
If he had tripped over, he would have ended up under the train.
Once the train passes, the two are seen climbing the security fence, in too much of a hurry to wait the few seconds for the gates to reopen.
The footage has been released to highlight the start of Rail Safety Week and Transport Minister Andrew Constance said running across level crossings was highly dangerous.
‘‘Some people think they can play chicken with a train but they’re not only putting their own life and limbs at risk, but the health and safety of others too,’’ Mr Constance said.
‘‘The message is simple, don’t ignore the danger. It’s worth waiting a few extra seconds than face life-long consequences or even lose your life.’’
Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said trespassing on tracks was a major issue.
‘‘Every year around 4000 people trespass on the tracks for a range of reasons from taking shortcuts to committing graffiti vandalism,’’ Mr Collins said.
‘‘We do as much as we can to keep our customers safe, including more than 10,000 CCTV cameras monitoring the network, station announcements and campaigns such as this one.’’