DOVER, N.H. -- In light of recent incidents, rail officials hope more enforcement tools will be used to keep people off the tracks, according to Foster’s Daily Democrat.

On Thursday, a northbound Downeaster train came to a screeching halt in Saco, Maine, to avoid hitting two snowmobiles.

"It was a case where the engineer saw them, but he didn’t think they saw the train," said Bill Epstein, director of government affairs for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. The engineer, who thought he hit the snowmobile riders, investigated and found trails in the snow leading away from the rails.

On Sunday, a northbound Downeaster train struck and killed a woman in Lawrence, Mass., who did not heed the engine’s horn.

While the rails have become an attraction for snowmobile riders throughout Maine and in Dover, the director of Maine’s rail safety outreach program says they are better behaved than those on four-wheelers. Maine Operation Lifesaver Director J. Emmonds Lancaster says snowmobile riders are part of organized riding groups that stress the dangers of being near the rails.

But, for many people in New Hampshire and Maine, this is the first time they have experienced a fast-moving passenger train.

"They’ve got to understand it’s private property and it’s against the law to be there," Lancaster said. "People think it’s a nice place to go cross-country skiing."

In Maine, a tough anti-trespassing law seems to be an effective deterrent, according to David Fink, vice president of operations for Guilford Rail, which owns and maintains the tracks between Plaistow and Portland, Maine.

An escalating fine scale has been "very helpful" in keeping trespassers away, Fink said. Guilford Rail police arrested 10 people over the weekend for riding snowmobiles between Biddeford and Saco, Maine, he added.

A first offense carries a fine of $100, a second offense is $250 and subsequent offenses are $1,000. The N.H. Legislature has failed to pass similar legislation. He is proposing fines of $100, $250 and $500 respectively.

"We had the Amtrak police and Rockingham County Sheriff’s Department support it, but the hunting and fishing lobby think it’s OK to go out on the rails," Fink said, adding that sportsmen’s groups have argued that they have crossed the rails for years.