Video shows boy’s close call with Metro train in Houston

(CBS) Houston transit officials released shocking surveillance footage last week of a young boy’s close encounter with a light rail train as a warning to parents as summer approaches to teach their children about rail safety.

A video of the incident, which occurred on October 16, 2016, shows two kids chasing after each other as a train quickly approaches. One boy sprinted across the rails. Then the second boy followed — with the Metro train approaching close behind him.

The boy was just a few feet ahead of the moving train when he heard its horn and turned around. In an instant, he sprinted back out of its path, escaping what could have been a tragic accident by mere seconds.

“It’s closer to the summer months when we’ll have more people on our train system and we really wanted to talk to parents about telling and warning their kids about the potential dangers of playing around the metro rail or crossing the metro rail,” Jackie Gill, a media specialist at Houston METRO, told CBS News.

METRO officials called the incident a “close call,” and decided to release the video on Mother’s Day weekend when they expected an increase in ridership.

Gill hopes the video, which was viewed more than 1,000 times on their Facebook page, will encourage parents to have a conversation with their kids about safety and educate them on pedestrian signals and signs.

Trains are not able to stop on a dime, even if the crew wants to. “It’s heavy and it’s slow. It doesn’t stop like a car, not as easily or as quickly,” Gill warned, adding that the trains weigh around 50 tons. “You don’t want to get stuck underneath those tracks — it is deadly.”

Houston METRO didn’t reveal the boy’s identity nor did they provide further details about the incident. The raw footage is simply being used to teach riders to “stop, look and listen,” Gill explained.

“We want to let the public know to just be aware of their surroundings,” Gill said.