Railtrack plc

Railtrack puts [[?]] million into station security on Thameslink line
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date 12 November 1997
source Railtrack plc
type Press release

note (some figures in the originating document were illegible)

Railtrack is putting ?million into station security on the Thameslink Line. The money, in addition to the on-going multi-million regeneration programme, will be used to improve lighting and install closed circuit television cameras at stations.

Railtrack will work with Thameslink, who will then draw up a hit list of priority stations requiring immediate work, expected to start before the end of the year.

Once installed, the security equipment will be the responsibility of the train operator to use and maintain.

The ?million contribution is part of a nation-wide extra spend of ? million being handed out by Railtrack. Chris Jago, Director Railtrack Southern said: "Stations are actually a lot safer than many other public places, but recent research has shown us that station security is one of our customers' most important priorities. They want us to put station safety on the fast track, and that is why we are contributing this extra money."

Euan Cameron, Thameslink Managing Director, said: "Thameslink is working with Railtrack to improve security at our stations by utilising the ?million made available.

"We are already working with Railtrack to improve stations on our network and this money will allow us to further enhance these projects. The funding will be used to provide additional facilities to the closed circuit television provision included in our franchise plan, to provide help phones connected to our control office and other anti-vandal devices. This along with the security guards introduced on 10 November on the Wimbledon Loop is part of our overall package to encourage genuine users to travel by rail;" he said.

Railtrack's research has shown that rail users place the issue of security at the top of the list of things they would like the company to be addressing.

Commenting on this research, Chris Jago said: "Our station regeneration programme has been designed to tackle the problems caused by many years of under-investment, restoring and enhancing Britain's station network. However, we have received the clear message from rail users that, while they understand that there is a long term need to modernise stations, in the short term they want us to give priority to the safety issue. This is what we are now doing by making extra funds available for station safety measures."

Railhub Archive ::: 1997-11-12 RTK-001