Annually, the NS spends about €10 million removing graffiti from trains. As a result, the organisation has announced new measures to combat graffiti vandalism.
With a sharp rise in vandalism, the Dutch railway system Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) has announced that they’ll be employing new technology to combat graffiti sprayers according to the NOS.
Last year alone, 142,000 square meters of NS trains’ surfaces were sprayed — that equates to approximately twenty football fields combined. 😲
When and how do trains get vandalised?
Trains often get sprayed when parked at night, even behind locked fences. 😱 The upgraded strategy will be curated towards slowing or preventing vandals from entering NS yards. 🔐
The NS announced that they’ll be placing special fences with movement sensors and paint scent sensors, along with utilising drones and heat detectors among other strategies.
Between small graffiti prints to trains that get completely covered, not only is it a financial burden for the NS to take on, but it also affects passengers since sprayed trains get removed from their service lines for cleaning. Don’t be surprised if your next train is late, could be graffiti induced. 🤔
Keeping track
As part of the new measures, the NS notably has also developed an employees’ graffiti reporting app — handy! 🤳
Apparently, the NS keeps a database of graffiti related information, such as the most visited locations and “tags” or the signatures of graffiti vandals. 🗃 All the collected data from the app will be stored in this database which contains more than two million photos. Whoa!
While some people see graffiti on trains as art, the NS is combating this issue with every resource possible. “For us, this is really a destruction of the train,” says NS security director Frank Reitsma.
What do you think of the latest measures taken by NS to prevent graffiti pain on trains? Tell us in the comments below!
Featured Image: thomaseder/Depositphotos
Graffiti is NOT art! It is vandalism. It must be punished with imprisonment and not just a fine or a weekend in jail. Not only on trains, but any and all graffiti vandals must be punished. Graffiti is Criminality masquerading as “art”. There is no such thing as graffiti art.