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Tuesday 16 Aug 2016

Network Rail volunteers carry out clean up at Sheffield station

Region & Route:

| Eastern

Members of Network Rail’s safety team spent a day clearing graffiti from a wall near Sheffield station as part of a day of action in the community.

The wall, which is behind Sheffield station and next to the Supertram lines, has been repeatedly tarnished with graffiti over recent months with calls from passengers and residents for the area to be cleaned.

In a bid to help, the safety team held their monthly meeting at the site instead of in the office and spent the day cleaning off the paint and making the area look more attractive.

Graffiti is not only costly to remove, with Network Rail spending over £3.5 million a year on cleaning it from railway structures across the country, but it can also pose a significant danger to those who trespass on the railway to carry out the crime.

Hayley Bull, community safety manager, said: “Graffiti is a problem on the railway and unfortunately this area near Sheffield station had become particularly bad. We decided to have our team meeting outside the normal office environment which meant we were still able to have all the conversations we needed to, while doing something that improves this part of the railway for those who live, work and visit Sheffield.”