"Joe Patrick" wrote in message
...
I was just thinking of 3 ways to reduce vandalism and was wondering of the
practicality.
1) Link the on Board CCTV cameras to a central control room with controls
such as on train PA use (like Scotrail's remote Announcments)
2) Have another person on the train who can watch the cameras, provide
information and check tickets.
3) Probably not a very good idea, but do as they do in New York and
sometimes in Bristol. Use the older vehicles at night and save the better
ones for the day.

This all costs money (or more money) of which there is no incentive for many
TOCs to provide. Connex and other London commuter TOCs will not get any
significant revenue from employing armies of staff on trains/providing CCTV
and monitoring it, as they have a captive market who have no choice but to
use their services.

Witness the state of the 465 Networkers that operate on the suburban
London/Kent routes. They are virtually left to the will of vandals in the
evenings, and Connex are quite happy to allow this to happen - so long as
the trains can still move along the tracks, can still get the season ticket
holders into London within about 30 mins of the arrival time, they know that
commuters such as me have no choice but to slum it on their services.

Vandalism will sadly have to get a lot worse for serious action to be taken.
But I believe action will be taken one day, and once again a largely
graffiti and vandalism-free railway will return.

Nick