photo: RAILTARGET/No More Graffiti on Czech Railways? ČD and the Central Bohemian Region Introduce Comprehensive Measures
Czech Railways (ČD) held a conference presenting a new campaign under the slogan "Together for Clean Trains." The event was attended by Jiří Ješeta, Deputy General Director and Member of the Board of Directors responsible for passenger transport of ČD and Petr Borecký, Deputy Governor of the Central Bohemian Region for Public Transport. Recently, trains have been facing constant attacks by sprayers, which cost Czech carriers time and money.
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Petr Borecký was the first to speak. He started by explaining that "graffiti is not art but vandalism and organised crime." As a priority, the Central Bohemian Region tried to address the unfavourable situation with the police in connection with increased patrols. However, communication with them has not had much effect, as it is difficult to prove the perpetrators guilty. Borecký sees active public involvement in tackling the problem, deploying patrols with dogs to depots and lay-by stations, applying protective paint or equipping trains with cameras as long-term solutions to combat the sprayers. The train sanitization process will be collectively funded by the City of Prague and the Central Bohemian Region. An allocation of CZK 72 million is set for 2023, CZK 80 million for 2024, and CZK 60 million is reserved for the years 2025 to 2026.
The deployment of patrols is needed not only for depots and layover stations but also for selected night services. In addition to spraying, the Central Bohemian Region faces another long-standing problem, the lack of trains, which is also the public's answer to the often-asked question of why only clean trains are not put into service.
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CityElefant trains are the most affected by spraying. This year, a total of 68 train units have been cleaned on the interior and 64 on the exterior. To avoid the already frequent closures, cleaning of trains is done only on weekends. On average, it takes between 8 and 10 hours to clean 150 m² train units. Cleaning is essentially done manually so that the individual train units are not damaged. The faster removal of graffiti is aided by new anti-graffiti coatings, after which the effectiveness of graffiti retention decreases. Jiří Ješeta said that in addition to active cleaning, ČD does not neglect the prevention of graffiti, which it strengthens by installing motion-sensitive lights and increasing the number of CCTV cameras.
At the end of the press conference came a surprising statistic, according to which the age category of sprayers ranges from 35 to 50 y.o.
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