Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Graffiti removal costs Swiss railways millions

sprayed train
The all-time record was in 2015 when the clean-up bill reached CHF6.3 million. Keystone

Vandalism of railway carriages and infrastructure by graffiti cost The Swiss Federal Railways CHF5.4 million ($5.48 million) in 2017. 

This is an increase compared to the year before (little over CHF5 million) but less than the all-time record in 2015 when the clean-up bill reached CHF6.3 million. 

According to the company, “the aim of the sprayers is to make their graffiti visible to as many people as possible. This is why railway carriages are a privileged platform for them”. The videos and photos of graffiti disseminated by the media provoke imitators, the operator said on Thursday. 

The company removes sprayed vehicles from circulation within 24 hours if possible in order to avoid encouraging other vandals to follow suit. The trains affected are transferred to a workshop for cleaning which can take dozens of hours for a completely sprayed train. According to the firm, the costs passed on to voyagers through either higher ticket prices or taxes.

Apart from courting death, the graffiti sprayers are liable to prosecution and convicted sprayers “suffer financial difficulties”, said the rail operator.

More


Coming soon Lost Cells A podcast uncovering the human stories behind private stem cell banking's promises and failures. Get notified

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

View of the Swiss city of Zug.

More

Swiss multinational SGS to move HQ from Geneva to Zug

This content was published on The Swiss multinational SGS, the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, plans to move its headquarters from Geneva to canton Zug in central Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss multinational SGS to move HQ from Geneva to Zug
Swiss Solidarity collects 34.4 million in 2024

More

Swiss Solidarity charity collected CHF34 million in 2024

This content was published on Swiss Solidarity, the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), raised CHF34.4 million ($37.7 million) in donations in 2024 and spent CHF63 million on humanitarian projects.

Read more: Swiss Solidarity charity collected CHF34 million in 2024

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR