Last year, graffiti artists painted an average of six Renfe trains a day throughout Catalonia. If you sit for a while on a bench on the platforms of Barcelona's França station you will see how most of the convoys were tattooed. Some with a simple tag like a daub, and others with multicolored, enormous and elaborate signatures that extend along the sides of several cars.
In total, around 70,000 m of wagon surface were painted last year. In Catalonia, more or less half of the trains that are painted in all of Spain come to be painted. And sitting on a bench at the França station one can also sometimes appreciate the moment when the guard suddenly appeared and the letter painter in question had no choice but to leave his work half done and...
Renfe reported yesterday that last year it reported 2,340 graffiti incursions, "which represents an average of more than six acts of vandalism of this type per day." The railway company added that its security personnel managed to thwart up to 492 graffiti incursions during 2023.
Once upon a time, these raids were based on discretion. The graffiti artists tried to enter and leave the corresponding facilities without attracting attention, without anyone seeing them. And in the meantime, maybe they took a couple of photographs that they later saved in an album.
For some time now, however, the recording and dissemination on social networks of the raid itself has as much importance as what is painted, in many cases even more. A video of a race in front of a security guard and ultimately any challenge to authority is always applauded in this world. Some graffiti artists even stop trains in the middle of their journey to paint them to the astonishment of travelers. Then, shortly after, the passengers on the affected train also take out their cell phones and...
Other relevant numbers presented yesterday by Renfe. The bill for the corresponding repairs rose to 11.6 million euros last year. Sources from the railway company also stressed that we are not just talking about wiping things down.
Graffiti entails many other costs, those of surveillance, suspension of trips, delays... Last year, Renfe trains added around 7,500 hours out of service unexpectedly because they were cleaning them.
Some of these figures are very similar to those recorded in 2022, which shows that the fight between graffiti artists and authorities continues. And why do graffiti artists insist on painting trains, despite the fact that judicial rulings are becoming more and more severe and that more and more people are condemning their behavior? Well, because no other graffiti travels as much around the world as graffiti on a train. Graffiti artists see them as an express gallery. And as said, illegality is a fundamental aspect of this movement. Painting in authorized, negotiated or agreed places is something for muralists.
