Rail Safety
Support Rail Safety to keep your tamariki safe around the rail corridor and crossings. Rail Safety Week is coming up in term 3,
Rail Safety and Movin'March
A message from TrackSAFE
Encouraging active travel is a fantastic way to promote health, sustainability, and safety in your school community.
TrackSAFE NZopen_in_new is a charitable trust dedicated to improving safety around railway tracks and reducing harm on the rail network. Our mission is to educate communities about rail safety and provide resources that make learning engaging and effective.
In your Movin'March WoW packs, you'll find enclosed a Rail Safety Word Find (199 KB, Pdf) for your students. If you’d like more copies, please get in touch – we’d be happy to provide them.
Beyond this, there are a range of rail safety resources developed by NZ Transport Agency available for schools, including:
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Keeping safe around trains and railway tracks – presentation for Years 5-10open_in_new.
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‘Stop Look Listen Think’ Rail Safety Songopen_in_new – for younger students.
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Curriculum-based resources and linksopen_in_new – designed to integrate rail safety into your teaching. open_in_new
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‘Fast Tracks Smart Moves’open_in_new – rail safety interactive graphic novel (Years 7-8).
Looking ahead, Rail Safety Week takes place in the second week of August. If you would like to be involved, we can arrange a visit from rail staff to talk to students about staying safe around trains and tracks.
Thank you for helping keep your students safe and active!
Kind Regards,
Megan Drayton
Foundation Manager
megan.drayton@tracksafe.co.nz
Stay off. Stay Safe. Tracks are for Trains.
Visit the Rail Safety Week campaign page for an overview of this years campaign, key messages and downloadable resources.
TrackSAFE and Rail Safety Week
Our friends at TrackSAFE work hard around the year to promote safe use of the rail corridor and crossings. The message they want to get across this year is:
"Stay off. Stay safe. Tracks are for trains"
From 11-17 August 2025, Greater Wellington, including MetLink, support Rail Safety Weekopen_in_new.
The TrackSAFE websiteopen_in_new provides the most up-to-date and relevant resources for educators on teaching rail safety in schools. It is well worth a visit if your ākonga live near rail crossings.
Resources
Together with Waka Kotahi NZTA and KiwiRail, TrackSAFE are providing new resources:
- Primary school resources (NZTA) – (view presentation (4.6 MB, Pdf) from the webinar on 31 July for providers)
- New in 2025: Interactive graphic novel for Y7-8 students, "Fast Tracks, Smart Movesopen_in_new" with teacher support material (NZTA)
- School visits and engagement – contact TrackSAFE or KiwiRail
- Secondary school resources (KiwiRail & TrackSAFE)
- Y9-13: Resources such as interactive slideshows, activities, stats and awards for rail safety education (with Kaitiaki o Ara - SADDopen_in_new Students Against Dangerous Driving)
These will be released soon, so please sign up to our newsletter, or contact TrackSAFE for updates.
- Follow TrackSAFE on social mediaopen_in_new
- Email TrackSAFE for more information or to arrange school visits.
Supporting resources and links
TrackSAFE has curated a selection of the best available resources for schools.
Start your Rail Safety Week by visiting these pages on their site:
- Resources for Schoolsopen_in_new – Learning to stay safe around tracks and trains is as important as learning to swim or cross roads.
- Travelling with childrenopen_in_new – Always take particular care when travelling with children around train platforms and at level crossings.
Rail safety curriculum resources
Curriculum resourcesopen_in_new for New Zealand students learning to learn about safety near railways, especially the electrified rail networks in Auckland and Wellington.
- Written by Pam Hook and last updated in 2023.
- Learning areas: English, Maths, Science, Social sciences
- Level: 1-4
Rail safety presentation and activities
Designed for teachers and safety professionals. This presentationopen_in_new helps year 5-10 students learn how to safely cross the tracks and wait for trains.
Stop Look Listen and Think
Stop Look Listen and Think is a song to help children learn about crossing train tracks safely. Video, lyrics and moreopen_in_new.
Virtual trips focusing on Rail Safety and more.
LearNZ virtual field tripsopen_in_new covering a range of rail safety related topics.
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