But for outrageous good fortune, Portslade, Fishersgate and Willingdon Junction could so easily be bywords for rail disasters and scenes of carnage.

Rail chiefs have revealed just how close reckless vandals and intruders on railway lines came to causing catastrophes on the Sussex rail network.

Brighton and Hove has been named and shamed as one of the worst areas in the South for criminal damage and trespassing on the tracks. Other areas in Sussex are also causing major concern.

Network Rail, Railtrack's replacement in charge of Britain's rail infrastructure, is targeting the city in an Easter campaign warning youngsters of the dangers to themselves and others.

Key to the exercise will be imprinting on people's minds examples of deliberate destruction and stupidity which almost caused chaos.

Just before last Christmas a youth was electrocuted after straying on to tracks near Portslade station.

Network Rail Southern spokeswoman Donna Casey said: "He belongs to quite a select club of people who have somehow survived having thousands of volts through them."

Also causing concern are youths who regularly walk across the tracks from platforms at Fishersgate railway station, near Portslade.

The area around Willingdon Junction, near Eastbourne, is also being regularly used by people taking short cuts.

Network Rail has recently spent £200,000 improving protective fences - money which could have gone on services for travellers.

A teenager recently threw a stone at a signal at the same junction, breaking one of the red lights which tells train drivers to stop.

Ms Casey said: "Fortunately the next driver knew the area well, realised something was wrong and stopped in time. But potentially that could have caused a very serious accident."

Equally dangerous are the children who have been spotted playing the perilous game of "chicken" across tracks near Hove station.

Money has been spent on improving fences but rail chiefs fear the Easter holidays will mean more bored youngsters try their luck.

That could lead not only to the culprits themselves getting struck, but carriages being derailed.

These "route crime" incidents in Network Rail's southern region over the past 11 months have killed 22 people and injured 45. Some 64 people were killed across the UK last year.

There were 49 occasions when trains just missed colliding with a passenger and a total of 4,136 rail crimes reported across the region.

An estimated four million objects were thrown on to UK rails last year, some by children as young as five.

The traditional image of friendly relations between train drivers and youngsters dreaming of following in their tracks has gone.

One train driver said: "I used to see kids waving at me on railway bridges and I used to wave back.

"Nowadays I don't because I can't be certain that a brick won't come crashing through my cab window."

As well as the human cost in lives and injuries, there is also a heavy financial toll.

Railway crime is estimated to cost the country £26 million a year, money which could be spent on Britain's railway network.

Vandals are responsible for 56 per cent of all train damage. South Central, which provides train services in Sussex, has been hit particularly badly.

Last August vandals targeted the first set of nine carriages from a £216 million order on trial runs between Brighton and Eastbourne.

They broke into the sidings behind Brighton station to cover the new Electrostar carriages with slogans and tags.

Another Electrostar train which had not yet entered service was daubed with graffiti at Brighton station last month, causing damage put at £4,000.

The firm recently announced it was installing anti-vandal shelters at East Worthing, Berwick and Ore stations, with more to come.

Measures being adopted to curb rail crime include junior citizen schemes, with youth education officers touring schools.

Network Rail advisers are targeting schools in Brighton, Chichester, Worthing and Littlehampton.

This summer they will also be supporting Football In The Community sessions run by coaches from Brighton and Hove Albion.

Anyone who witnesses trespassing or criminal damage on the railways should call British Transport Police's free 24-hour phoneline on 0800 405040.