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Thursday 4 Feb 2021

Rail passengers encouraged to ‘reach out each day in a positive way’ with new artwork

Region & Route:

Eastern: Anglia

A striking piece of artwork intends to inspire rail passengers as they travel into London Liverpool Street station.

The colourful artwork was created by a well-known Instagram artist who wishes to remain nameless, who wrote the words “reach out each day in a positive way” in the hope that it would encourage people to look out for one another in these challenging times.

The mural is painted at Pedley Street on the busiest stretch of the Anglia route, where the rail lines feed into London Liverpool Street station. This is known as the ‘Golden Mile’ because it is the busiest stretch of railway on the entire Anglia route.

Network Rail has commissioned the art to tidy up the area as part of its blitz on graffiti and vandalism across the rail network.

Network Rail’s lineside teams have taken on the huge clean-up operation, which is supporting the Secretary of State Grant Shapps’ recent commitment to improve the look and feel of the railway as part of efforts to encourage people to travel by train. Graffiti is a blight on the railway and Network Rail spends £3.5m every year cleaning offensive material.

Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said: “This is a really striking piece of art which will be seen by thousands of passengers as they travel into Liverpool Street station. I want Anglia’s railways to be a clean, welcoming environment for our passengers and I really hope this new artwork will inspire people and continue to do so for years to come.”

Trespassing on the railway and committing acts of vandalism with graffiti is incredibly dangerous and it’s a crime. There are fines of up to £1,000 for trespassing on the railway. Incidents of graffiti can be reported to Network Rail’s 24-hour national helpline on 03457 11 41 41.