CRIME on the railways in Darwen has fallen by 50 per cent following a year-long crackdown, it was revealed today.

Network Rail launched its No Messin'! campaign at Avondale School in March 2005 to spell out the serious consequences of playing on the railways.

At the time, Darwen was rated as the worst area in Lancashire for railway crime with Network Rail logging 52 incidents during 12 months in 2004/2005.

Now the company believes its campaign has helped reduce that figure to 27 incidents during the same period in 2005/2006.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "The number of railway crime incidents in the Darwen area has fallen by almost 50 per cent compared with the figures from last year.

"This significant fall in the number of incidents is due to the educational programme Network Rail is carrying out across the country.

"The No Messin'! campaign aims to reduce railway crime by offering young people a positive alternative to playing on or around the railway, by organising activities in their area. Network Rail has also been working closely with Blackburn Rovers' 'Football in the Community' scheme over the past year.

"This programme was launched by Rovers defender Lucas Neil last March and has proved to be very successful.

"Not only does the programme provide youngsters with an alternative during the school holidays, when railway crime is most likely to be committed, but the coaches also spell out the potentially fatal dangers of playing on the railway.

"The decrease in trespassing, which has almost halved since last year, has fallen due to fencing enhancements that have been carried out over the past year. This has also had a significant and positive effect on the number of equipment vandalism and objects placed on the line, which have also fallen."

Incidents have included: l Three of equipment vandalism during 2004/05 compared to one incident during 2005/06; l Seven of objects being placed on the line during 2004/05 and five incidents during 2005/06; l 24 of trespass during 2004/05 and 13 incidents during 2005/06; l Four of brick-throwing during 2004/05 and eight incidents during 2005/06.

The British Transport Police have also run a campaign asking for members of the public to report any incidents of youths on the line.

PC Ric Herbert, from the British Transport Police, said: "There has been a considerable reduction in the number of incidents in that area with only 27 in the last 12 months, which were mainly trespassing."