Just to note, the graffiti was covered extensive by the bbc, the tagging being clearly shown on tv and online, so they would be the logical starting point for any argument that exposure fuels this behaviour. And regarding public interet, such coverage was at least useful in showing the tagging clearly took some time, so probably was a serious failure of security.
Definitely a PR hit, but only in the sense there's a perfectly good train factory down the road and a perfectly serviceable port right next to the depot, but somehow a supplier in deepest continental Europe was chosen.
The train would've been tagged wherever it ended up, including here at Gosforth, regardless of security levels. It's the first of a new fleet of trains, the vast majority of graffiti artists will try and tag it to get their name out there and boost their reputation.
The 'perfectly good train factory down the road' didn't provide as good a bid and is Japanese, if they had of won the bid the chances are they wouldn't have made the trains at the 'perfectly good train factory down the road', they may have been assembled there but we require something more bespoke. If it was built here then the chances of delays and issues I can imagine being significant. In an international world is it really an issue that we can choose to get the best product available? As much as I think Nexus are totally incompetent and haven't a clue how to run a transport system, with the procurement of this new rolling stock they have, in my view, made an excellent choice. Stadler is well known for having reliable, and well built stock, that typically ages incredibly well. There's no reason the Metro shouldn't have some of the best rolling stock on the market, it has to last and it has to be ready for the future, whatever that may hold in terms of expansion.
If they haven't for example evidently bothered to think about a simple thing like the secure delivery of the untis, if only for their own reputaution, what else has been overlooked?
The unit was delivered securely, to suggest otherwise is a lie, and to decide that other things may have been overlooked because a train got tagged is completely asinine.
Well, as I was alluding to, the fact that someone was apparently able to gain close access to a train for a long time, a vehicle that was potentially travelling to a public unveiling (but didn't) or a media laden private arrival (which it did), is pretty scary. It suggests either a failure of planning (risk assesment) or execution of the security plan.
I personally can't think of a similar scenario, in every one it seems to me either the vehicle would be better protected, or the risk would be much less. And on that score, given how much it costs to rectify and how good technology is getting, are we not at the stage now where it might be cost efficient to use proximity sensors to detect when people are hanging around trains that are either meant to be in service (but not at a station) or parked in a secure location?
When I heard of this incident I was reminded of a bizarre sight I saw once during a rural bike ride. Four tripod mounted security systems equipped with cameras and sensors. They sparked into life when I got within ten feet of the actual security fence, warning me of the imminent arrival of the Fuzz. What were they guarding? A pile of breeze blocks and some oil drums as far as I could tell. And if not, it was pretty obvious that whatever might have or was about to be placed into that small plot in the middle of nowhere, couldn't be as remotely valuable as a brand new Metro train.
Professional graffiti artists can fully tag a train (top to bottom, full carriage) in a minute, sometimes even less. They plan what they're doing, and they will have likely practiced, they aren't like your local yobs who've gone to B&Q and nicked a few spray cans and are just writing a tag on things. All it takes is one security guard to turn their head, go to the toilet etc. and the train is tagged, next thing they smell the paint fumes, have a look and the people who were tagging it have already vanished into the night.
The only way it could be better protected would be to have a ring of security around the train at all times, and lets be real, does anybody really care that much? It'll be cleaned off and at the press unveiling it will be all nice and sparkly new. If anything, it's good that it's been tagged already as it should mean there's not as much of a big international interest, and it will be more just a local interest to get it tagged, which can largely be mitigated against with the train remaining in depot and when out and about in testing not announcing it anywhere - much easier to do on Metro, than on NR.
