CRIME on East Lancashire's railways is among the highest in the North West -- endangering the lives of thousands of passengers each year.

According to figures published by Network Rail today, Accrington, Darwen and Burnley are some of the worst areas for railway crime.

The stations feature high on a list of shame for incidents such as objects being placed on the tracks, missiles been thrown at passing trains and vandalism. Sergeant Steve Murtagh, of the British Transport Police, said such incidents put the lives of passengers and workers at risk.

He said: "If anyone places anything on the track it can derail a train and is obviously very dangerous.

"Lives are put at risk -- not just the lives of people working on the tracks but those of passengers as well.

"You can have 500 passengers on a train so we are talking about thousands of people.

"It causes a lot of disruption and is a very serious offence."

And he warned: "The maximum sentence for putting things on the track is life imprisonment."

The figures, based on 2002 to 2004, show there were 45 incidents in Accrington -- the sixth worst in the area. Of those, 21 were trespassing, seven objects on the track and 17 stones or missiles thrown at passing trains. There were 40 incidents reported in Darwen -- 12th in the list -- of which 15 were trespassing, four of vandalism, 10 objects on the track and 11 stones or missiles thrown.

Blackburn came joint 68th in the list, with 22 incidents, and Burnley Central was fourth with 51 incidents.

To combat the problem, Network Rail is today launching its crime week to educate schoolchildren about the dangers.

It is aimed to coincide with the run-up to the school holidays when children may be less supervised. A hard-hitting film about the death of a 15-year-old who died while playing on the railway will be sent to every secondary school in Britain. On Wednesday the organisation will run an open day in conjunction with Action on Children's Accidents Project, at Asda in Colne to target the people of East Lancashire.

Alex Pilling, Network Rail's external liaison officer, said the rail industry would continue to work to eradicate rail crime.

Anyone who sees a crime on the railway should report it to the British Transport Police on freephone 0800 405040.