Union Pacific Launches Social Media-Based High School Senior Photo Safety Campaign

Union Pacific Railroad today launched a new social media campaign urging photographers and high school seniors to refrain from taking photographs on or near train tracks. Through startling videos, the campaign compares the dangers of snapping photos on the tracks to posing for senior pictures on a busy highway. Neither are safe locations. The campaign launched exclusively on social media channels Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), more than 500 people in the United States were killed in 2014 while walking or standing on railroad property, which is trespassing according to federal law.

ÒUnion Pacific launched this campaign to combat the alarming and growing trend of photographers staging high school senior photo shoots on train tracks,Ó said Bob Turner, Union Pacific senior vice president Ð Corporate Relations. ÒUnion Pacific trains operate in more than 7,300 U.S. communities, and this campaign encourages photographers and high school seniors to embrace the safety benefits of shooting senior photos a safe distance from train tracks.Ó