Teenage yobs forced a train to stop after playing a deadly game of "chicken" on a busy line.

In a separate incident, youngsters opened fire with an airgun at a passing train.

The incidents feature in a list of rail-crime by youths which has made Bolton one of the North-west hot-spots earmarked by police for extra patrols this Easter.

British Transport Police chiefs fear that children who are on a two-week school holiday could cause havoc on tracks around the town.

High-profile uniformed officers will be on patrol along with plain-clothed colleagues over the school holidays.

Police will also use off-road motorbikes to respond to incidents and catch offenders.

Transport police were called to Blackrod Station at 1.55pm on March 20 after a driver saw a group of 12 youngsters running back and forth across the line.

The driver was forced to stop the train as a precaution but when officers arrived the youths had gone.

Other incidents in March included:

  • Rope and wood were left stacked on rails close to Stoneclough Road, Kearsley, March 26.
  • Teenagers were seen walking along the track close to Deane Road, Deane, on March 25.
  • A driver ran over pieces of concrete left on the line between Hag Fold and Daisy Hill on March 17
  • Youngsters fired an airgun at a train as it passed close to Heaton Cemetery at 6pm on March 10.

Insp Tony Fitzpatrick, of British Transport Police, said: "By targeting the most prominent areas we will reduce the number of incidents and catch some of the mindless individuals responsible. Officers are regularly called to incidents where youngsters are badly injured and in some cases killed because they were messing about on or near the railway."

Last year, Amir Khan became the celebrity face behind Network Rail's "No Messin' - Live!" initiative.

Rail chiefs hoped that by using the Bolton star boxer as a role model, young people would be encouraged to develop new interests and ditch dangerous railway games.

Each year about 60 people, many of them youngsters, are killed and hundreds more injured in horrific accidents while crossing tracks or playing "chicken" with trains.

Anyone with information about a crime should contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.