The Measures Adopted Are Working Well. Several Spray-Painters Have Been Caught in the Act

The measures adopted by the Central Bohemian Region, Capital City of Prague and České dráhy leading to reduction of spray painting on trains in the Prague conurbation have been successful. In the last few weeks, several sprayers have been apprehended and handed over to the Police of the Czech Republic. At the same time, the installation of special stickers on the train units is continuing, which facilitates the subsequent removal of the “paintings”. The Regional Authority, the Municipality of Prague and the transport operator started a systematic fight against vandalism last year. The campaign is called “Together for Clean Trains”.

“The measures we agreed upon were rather effective. The situation has improved, in particular with regard to the exteriors. In the past, we usually sanctioned the carrier for about thirty dirty units per month, but in recent months it has been a matter of a few cases only. České dráhy keeps us informed about security threats, and the hired security agency has also caught several sprayers. Of course, we are aware of the fact that the situation especially in the interiors of the CityElefant units is definitely not good. But I believe that if we continue this way, we will be able to bring this fight against vandalism to a successful conclusion for the benefit of all of us who use public transport services,” reminds Petr Borecký, Member of the Council of the Central Bohemian Region, in charge of the public transport area.

“I am glad to see that we are managing to stabilise the situation with the commuter trains which have been damaged by spray painting. Thanks to above-standard cooperation with the Regional Authority and the Municipality, we have significantly tightened security measures at the turning and stopping points, where the units were often the target of vandals. We have reinforced the security perimeter at the Michle storage yard in Prague and we are also deploying security agency patrols on selected night and morning services,” says Jiří Ješeta, Member of the Board of Directors and Deputy Director General of ČD for Passenger Transport, pointing out: “We are also able to remove sprayed units from circulation earlier for cleaning, and by using innovative anti-spray coatings or varnishes, the cleaning process is faster and clean trains are back in service in a clean condition sooner.”

“I am personally an advocate of preventive measures above all, and now, thanks to joint investments in greater security directly at the places where problems arise, we can see a clear improvement. A nice and clean environment on trains increases the comfort of passengers and motivates them to use their services more often. For Prague, it is a priority for České dráhy to ensure a high-quality and sufficient-capacity train connection for Prague citizens from the peripheral districts who commute by train to work and home,” adds Zdeněk Hřib, First Deputy Mayor of Prague, in charge of transport.

The last two cases of successful catching of spray-painters were in early August, when a security agency staff member caught a man scribbling on the walls of a passenger train interior right in the act. The incident took place on the railway line between Smíchov and Radotín in Prague. The train had to be cancelled in order to deal with the incident in cooperation with the Police. The total damage was estimated at more than 39 thousand crowns.

Another man was caught spraying on the bodies of the carriages of a train which was immobilised in Klatovy. He was apprehended on the site by ČD employees and security guards. It is currently being investigated whether the vandal was also spraying in the Central Bohemian Region or not.

Other trains will get anti-graffiti stickers. For the first time also for the interior

In addition to security measures, the national carrier is also focusing on removing graffiti from its trains in a more efficient manner. Anti-graffiti stickers and painting materials have been applied to selected units of the 471 CityElefant class in the colours of the Prague Integrated Transport system. “They have proven to be very useful for us also because much less water and chemicals are needed to wash the units equipped in this way. Therefore, we will continue to install this technology and will equip more than thirty additional CityElefant units with it, this time for the first time indoors. We are starting this process already now in August. This will significantly improve the current state of the interiors damaged by vandals and increase the culture of travelling in and around Prague” adds Mr. Ješeta.

The removal of graffiti from the interiors and exteriors of train sets costs ČD millions of crowns every year. This year alone, the damage is estimated at approximately CZK 13 million. Every week, České dráhy removes between 100 and 350 square metres of graffiti from its trains in Prague. Last year, České dráhy registered altogether 460 graffiti attacks on its trains.