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Thursday 5 Jan 2006

PHOTOCALL: WALSALL’S RAIL RUBBISH COSTS THOUSANDS

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Date: Friday 6 January 2006 Time: 2.00pm Location: Forest Lane Footbridge off Bloxwich Road, Walsall Event: Photocall with David Winnick MP for Walsall North, Bruce George MP for Walsall South and representatives from Network Rail to highlight the problem of fly-tipping on the railway in Walsall Media contact: Ben Herbert 0121 345 3100 Sofas, mattresses, shopping trolleys, traffic cones and garden furniture – these are just some of the thousands of domestic and garden materials dumped on the railway in Walsall. To combat the problem, Network Rail, in association with Walsall Council and the British Transport Police, is launching a campaign to identify and prosecute fly tippers in the Walsall area. Jim Syddall, Network Rail Territory Maintenance Director, said: “The embankments behind some residential housing look more like a refuse tip than the operational railway it is meant to be. It is upsetting to see that people treat their environment with such blatant disregard. As a result we have to spend thousands of pounds clearing it in the coming weeks.” As well as being an eyesore, fly tipping can have serious safety implications for the railway. A train could be derailed if a large item, such as a fridge, rolled down an embankment onto the track. Smaller items also cause delay, become stuck in points, jamming them, and metal items can short-circuit the electrical system. Councillor Marco Longhi, cabinet member for environment at Walsall Council, added: “We are committed to ensuring our borough is clean and green. We are very pleased to be supporting Network Rail and British Transport Police in this initiative. “The environmental impact of criminal fly tipping is extremely upsetting for local residents. Rubbish strewn alongside the railway track creates a very poor impression for the thousands of passengers travelling through the area by train. There is no excuse for dumping rubbish anywhere in Walsall because we already have recycling centres at Fryers Road, Leamore, Merchants Way and Aldridge as well as a bulky waste collection service operating across the borough.” Network Rail will start work to clear the rubbish on a two mile stretch of the railway between Rycroft Junction and Bloxwich Level Crossing on the 8 January 2006. The project will last eight weeks and up to 500 tonnes of material will be removed. Contractors working under the supervision of waste management specialists will remove the items by hand to refuse vehicles, which will transport the waste to designated areas for disposal. Prosecutions will be sought by the British Transport Police, who will be carrying out regular patrols of the area to deter people from fly tipping again.