Article: Push to rid rail system of graffiti

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Push to rid rail system of graffiti

Push to rid rail system of graffiti
Article from: Herald Sun

Ashley Gardiner

May 30, 2009 12:00am

MELBOURNE'S yet-to-be-chosen train operator will be forced to keep the city's rail lines free of graffiti from later this year.

Under the State Government's new train contract, the operator will receive incentives for quick graffiti removal.

The Government has estimated it will cost $30 million to rid Melbourne's rail corridors of graffiti, and $6 million a year to keep it that way.

Connex is bidding against two rivals for the right to run the train system from December. The bids will need to include a graffiti removal strategy to eliminate the blight.

A scheme introduced at the 2006 Commonwealth Games to rid rail lines of graffiti has succeeded, keeping lines between North Melbourne and Richmond graffiti-free. Graffiti must be removed from trains and publicly accessible station areas within 24 hours of a report being made.

Elsewhere, Connex is obliged to remove "offensive" graffiti only from railway reserves, leaving much of the system covered in it.

Mentone residents will rally at their station at 11am today for tougher anti-graffiti laws.

Chelsea and Bonbeach Train Station Group president Paul Coniglio said graffiti was growing.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said graffiti was costly to taxpayers.

"The only people who like it are the small amount who do the graffiti in the first place," she said. "People shouldn't do it, and if they know if they do it they will get penalised."