RAILWAY CLEAN-UP EFFORTS ON TRACK IN PLYMOUTH

Thursday 30 Aug 2007

RAILWAY CLEAN-UP EFFORTS ON TRACK IN PLYMOUTH

Region & Route:: | Wales & Western: Wales & Borders; | Southern: Wessex; | Wales & Western; | Southern

Over two tonnes of rubbish have been cleared from the railway in and around Plymouth train station as part of a joint initiative between Plymouth City Council and Network Rail. The two organisations signed an agreement at the start of the summer pledging to work together to tackle problems such as litter, flytipping and graffiti. Network Rail agreed to regularly remove graffiti, litter and rubbish from in and around the station, along with other areas of the railway and in return, the Council is picking up and taking away any rubbish collected. Greg Lunn, Network Rail's Maintenance Director for the Western Territory, said: "It's amazing what our maintenance teams uncovered during the clean-up operation - items cleared have included shopping trolleys, bikes, bottles, bags of general rubbish and even a microwave. "We have a duty to the community to remove this blight from their area – but we would rather invest our time and money renewing and enhancing the rail network. This is why we urge anyone who has information about fly-tipping or graffiti to call the British Transport police and help us fight this costly anti-social crime." Councillor Michael Leaves, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Environmental Regulation, said: "We are pleased to be working with Network Rail to clean up areas around the railway and train station, which are often hotspots for graffiti and fly tipping. By removing dumped rubbish in these areas on a regular basis we are not only improving the local environment for people living nearby but also giving a better image of the city to visitors and people passing through on their journeys." Network Rail will continue to monitor the area and with the help of Plymouth City Council remove any further waste or graffiti. If anyone encounters or has information regarding graffiti or flytipping on the railway they should report it to the British Transport Police on 0800 405040.

Notes to editors

Plymouth City Council Press Office: Tammy Baines, 01752 304913

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office -Western route
MediaRelationsWestern@networkrail.co.uk

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.

Media centre