No more swanning around: Railway workers get specialist training on how to remove swans trespassing on tracks

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Swan Sanctuary is providing training to some of Network Rail’s mobile operational managers, which help look after railways, on how to safely remove the birds from the train tracks. open image in gallery There have been around 143 swan incidents on the train tracks across the country this year Tom Desmond, an operations director from Network Rail, said that, despite deer being the largest group of railway trespassers out of the animal kingdom, swans are, in fact, “the most impactful animal trespassers for disrupting passenger services”. open image in gallery Network Rail released this mugshot of a criminal trespasser on their train tracks, but instead of a fine, it was released somewhere safer While operational managers are busy capturing swans, Network Rail and London North Eastern Railway have been trialling the use of AI to try and deter deer from even approaching the tracks. The British Deer Society told The Independent that they are “highly encouraged” by Network Rail’s AI system used to warn off deer from accessing active railway tracks.