Tuesday 30 Mar 2004
OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE RAIL CRIME REDUCING SUPER VAN
- Region & Route:
Network Rail and the British Transport Police (BTP) are launching the first ever state of the art mobile CCTV van as part of their continuing fight against railway crime.
The launch is taking place at 10:45am on 2 April at Piccadilly station where Gwyneth Dunwoody MP and Chief Superintendent Martin Ripley, Area Commander for the British Transport Police will be there to mark the occasion.
The £40,000 van, which is funded by Network Rail, is primarily a mounted CCTV system specifically designed to reduce railway and street crime. It incorporates a colour/ infrared camera with 360-degree rotation and will patrol the North West region’s biggest railway crime hotpots. It is complete with prisoner detaining area, fingerprinting facilities and equipment to play back any camera footage on board.
BTP officers PC Darryl Grundy and PC Gary Beardall, who are funded by Network Rail to specifically target railway crime, will be visiting problem areas in a determined effort to drastically reduce crime that has the potential to cause catastrophic incidents. They will use the van to collect evidence that can prove vital in successfully prosecuting offenders who have committed crimes. Crimes against the railway can carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
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Launch – 2
Network Rail's Route Crime Risk Manager Sam Coppin said: “We’re delighted with the delivery of the van, and are keen to ensure that it plays a fundamental part in the ongoing challenge of bringing down levels of railway crime in the North West.”
Gwyneth Dunwoody MP for Crewe & Nantwich and Chairman of the Commons Transport Select Committee said: “This partnership approach is exactly what the Government wants in the fight against the serious offences committed against the railway industry”
Chief Superintendent, Martyn Ripley said: “The purchase of the CCTV van builds on the already successful partnership between Network Rail and the British Transport Police here in the North West”
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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