Metro does monthly clean of graffiti-riddled rail corridor but should it be more often?

ONE of Melbourne’s eyesores - the “dirty” train corridor between Flinders St and our world-famous sporting precinct that has earned Melbourne comparisons to The Bronx - won’t be cleaned anytime soon. Here’s why.

Graffiti on a fly over on the rail route between Flinders St and Richmond stations. Picture: Alex Coppel

METRO has up to a month to scrub graffiti from Melbourne’s “dirty” train corridor.

Public Transport Victoria has said the rail operator must remove offensive graffiti “anywhere on Metro’s land or infrastructure” within a week.

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But Metro is given a month’s grace when it comes to cleaning the putrid corridor walls between Flinders St and Richmond stations.

Nearby residents and train travellers have cast doubt over the effectiveness of the cleanse after dumped rubbish and ghastly tagging has plagued the area for months on end.

“On a monthly basis, Metro must remove graffiti from the pits at all train station precincts, and within the entire rail corridor between the North Melbourne signal box and Richmond station and between Flinders St station and Jolimont,” PTV said.

The rail route runs through a popular sports precinct. Picture: Alex Coppel

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and tourists visiting Melbourne yesterday slammed the ugly graffiti and dumped ­rubbish as a blight on the city.

The key rail corridor, which runs parallel to the Melbourne Park precinct and shuttles tourists and sports fans to major events, is a hot spot for vandals.

Tony Morton, from the Public Transport Users Association, said the government should consider requiring Metro to clean the stretch more often.

“It could be investigated, along with other security measures to better fence off the rail network,” he said.

“Melbourne has long had a reputation for visible tagging around the train system.”

City leaders and tourists are concerned the graffiti hurts Melbourne’s reputation. Picture: Alex Coppel

Confusion has reigned over who is responsible for cleaning parts of the rail network and surrounding infrastructure.

Metro is unable to clean ­private property that adjoins the rail network or some publicly owned areas, like the pillars of the Exhibition St flyover that is controlled by VicRoads but sits within the rail corridor.

The rail authority said yesterday that it would tackle the issue with Public Transport Victoria, VicTrack, VicRoads and City of Melbourne.

But the Opposition slam­med the “finger pointing” and said the buck stopped with the government.

“Premier Daniel Andrews and his ministers have got to make sure that this is done one way or another,” Opposition transport spokesman David Davis said.

“Enough of the excuses and pointing fingers at different authorities. It is up to them to make sure that this horrific graffiti is removed.”

Even electrical boxes have been vandalised. Picture: Alex Coppel

The rail line is a drop punt from the MCG. Picture: Alex Coppel

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan yesterday ordered an urgent meeting between transport authorities to deal with graffiti and “reckless” behaviour from vandals.

She said the clean-up had to be timed to be safe and minimise disruptions.

“These are people engaging in this sort of behaviour in a live rail operating environment — one of the most dangerous places of all,” she said.

“We have to be very careful with our safety procedures as that graffiti is removed but we want to see it removed as soon as possible.”

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@moniquehore