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Friday 14 Apr 2023

Protecting our wildlife from becoming still life: Network Rail unveils new artwork at London Paddington

Region & Route:

Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

Today (Friday 14 April) Network Rail has revealed a new artwork at Paddington station to highlight the company’s commitment to protecting wildlife and biodiverse habitats alongside the railway.

The artwork is a print of five oil paintings done by Cindy Powell, an artist based in Wiltshire and a MA student at Falmouth University, depicting a Great Western Railway Class 800 IET alongside images of British wildlife in a surrealist style reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The piece celebrates the diversity of habitats and creatures found along rail corridors and Network Rail’s work to protect them.

Jane Austin, Network Rail’s director of engineering and asset management for the Western route, said: “The railway provides a rich and diverse tapestry of habitats for biodiversity and is home to many species of plants and animals, including some that are rare or endangered.

“We’re committed to protecting these biodiverse habitats and achieving no net loss of biodiversity on railway land by 2024, with a net gain on each route by 2035.

“Cindy’s artwork encapsulates the joy that nature and wildlife can inspire and centres Network Rail’s ambitious biodiversity targets in the larger rail context, with trains, plants and animals co-existing with all the benefits that they bring to one another.

“I hope the piece inspires passengers as they travel to and from Paddington so that we can all do our bit to protect our wild landscapes and the creatures that inhabit them.”

Cindy Powell, who created the paintings, said: “I wanted to highlight Network Rail's environmental strategies and biodiversity action plans by painting a Pentaptych, with a tea party theme, that had all sorts of creatures and a train intertwined into it. I strive to encourage a symbiotic and harmonious relationship between humans and all of earth's creatures by creating fun, colourful figurative and surrealistic type paintings.''

Passengers will find the new artwork near the entrance to the Hammersmith and City line and Paddington taxi rank.

To find out more about Network Rail’s commitment to biodiversity, visit https://www.networkrail.co.uk/sustainability/biodiversity-on-britains-railway/