Media centre

Wednesday 21 Feb 2007

RAIL GRAFFITI SQUAD CLEAN UP FINSBURY PARK GOLDEN MILE

Region & Route:

| Southern

A massive 42-strong maintenance squad from Network Rail has removed a mile of graffiti in Finsbury Park, vastly improving the environment for local residents and passengers travelling through the area. As part of an early spring clean blitz, the squad was armed with 510 litres of paint and 37 brushes, and spent a tremendous 400 hours removing a litany of offensive, abusive and unsightly graffiti to create a 'golden mile' stretch of railway from Finsbury Park to Harringay on the East Coast Main Line out of London. Network Rail's Territory Maintenance Director Andrew Hinton said: "Some may think graffiti is a bit of harmless fun, but in reality it's a serious blight on the local environment, which brings an area down. Our maintenance crews fight a never ending battle to remove graffiti, but in Finsbury Park we have pulled out all the stops to completely clean up this mile stretch. I hope that with the help of the British Transport Police and the local community we can keep it as graffiti free as possible. "As well as it being unsightly, we're also very concerned that young people are putting their lives at risk by trespassing on the railway. Up to 60 people are killed on the railway each year by taking short cuts or messing around on the tracks. Tagging a wall is just not worth the risk. I would urge anyone who sees graffiti being carried out/sprayed on the railway to call the British Transport Police in confidence on 0800 40 50 40."