“The next train will call at 40 art galleries …”

• GTR installs over 200 works of community art across the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern network
• professional, student and hobby artists create paintings, mosaics and sculptures for 40 stations in eight counties
• station ambience improvement programme also includes 90 landscaping projects and 50 redecoration schemes

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has put over 200 works of community art on show to make stations more attractive and uplifting for Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern passengers.

Local professional, student and hobby artists have created work for display at 40 stations, from King’s Lynn and Downham Market in Norfolk to Brighton and Newhaven Harbour on the south coast.

The train company called for the exhibits when local passengers and residents said art would be one of the best ways to improve their station's ambience. GTR worked with environmental charity Groundwork Trust, community rail partnerships, and other community and business groups to invite, brief and commission the local artists.

The huge variety of works, many inspired by local landscapes, history or personalities, include individual paintings, tiled and painted murals, metal sculptures, and historical and contemporary photography.

Together the installations create an art gallery linked by 300 kilometres (nearly 190 miles) of rail network, with exhibits in eight counties.

Some stations have enough exhibits to qualify as galleries in their own right. Stevenage, for instance, has been enriched with more than 20 paintings by students at John Henry Newman School. At Radlett, Girlguiding groups joined local professional and leisure-time artists to contribute 27 paintings. South Croydon also has over 20 works, on a theme of mental well-being, by members of art and mental health charity Studio Upstairs.

The largest individual artworks are the 47-metre mural by local illustrator Carli Pfurtscheller along the footbridge at St Neots station, and the 35m-long place-name mural,  by south London sign-writer Joe Rashbrook, on the road bridge outside East Croydon station. Hitchin’s photographic history collage by Groundwork East and North Herts Museum covers both sides of a 15-metre underpass.

The most recent installation is a series of mural panels created by local environmental artist Steve Messam for King’s Lynn. Steve's design was inspired by the iconic Campbell’s soup tin – the company established its first factory outside the USA at King’s Lynn in 1959.

[See Editors’ notes for a full list of the stations with new community art installations.]

Tom Moran, Managing Director for Thameslink and Great Northern, said: “We called out to communities to help us brighten up their stations, and we’ve been amazed by the talent of the many artists who have come forward. We’ve commissioned over 200 works in the past year – that’s enough for one in every room of the Shard’s Shangri-La Hotel!

“All the art is produced by local people, inspired by where they live. So it doesn’t just make our stations more vibrant and inspiring for our customers - it gives us an even stronger bond with the communities we serve.”

As part of its multimillion-pound, network-wide station improvement programme, GTR has also livened up the look of 90 stations with landscaping and planting projects. Again, many schemes were managed by Groundwork Trust, and several community groups have pledged to maintain the new gardens.

At 50 stations, passengers included redecorating and refurbishment in their top improvement priorities. The train companies’ make-overs have included sensitive restoration of Listed Buildings such as Battersea Park and North Dulwich in London, and what is thought to be the country’s oldest surviving wooden waiting shelter, at Ockley in Surrey, .

Editors’ notes

County by county – stations served by GTR with new community art installations

Norfolk: Downham Market (students’ paintings), King’s Lynn (professional artwork)

Bedfordshire: Bedford (welcome sign by Groundwork East), Biggleswade (primary school and youth group art), Harlington (secondary school art), Sandy (primary school art)

Hertfordshire: Bayford (primary school art), Hitchin (historic photography murals by Groundwork east and North Herts Museum), Potters Bar (nature-themed paintings by local professional artists), Radlett (paintings by local professional and hobby artists and Girlguiding groups), St. Albans City (banner commissioned by Business Improvement District), Stevenage (secondary school art), Welham Green (primary school art), Welwyn North (primary and secondary school art)

London: Alexandra Palace (professional mural), Carshalton Beeches (mural by Art-K art education company), Cricklewood (professional murals and name sign), Denmark Hill (mobile sculptures by local artists, sourced by Camberwell Society), East Croydon (mural by professional artist), Enfield Chase (professional mural mosaics commissioned by Enfield Society), Gipsy Hill (name sign by professional artist), Palmers Green (mural mosaics by professional artists), Purley (paintings by professional artists commissioned by Business Improvement District), Selhurst (professional mural mosaic), South Croydon (paintings and vinyl designs by Studio Upstairs artists), Thornton Heath (professional mural mosaic)

Surrey: Epsom (art posters commissioned by Business Improvement District; mural to come), Horley (graffiti art project with County Care), Reigate (local photography)

Kent: Penshurst (paintings by professional and hobby artists at local Jessop’s Farm Studios), Strood (murals by secondary school)

East Sussex: Eridge (mural map by local professional artist), Glynde (metal sculptures designed by primary and secondary schoolchildren, made by local artist-blacksmith), Newhaven Harbour (mural by youth group)

West Sussex: Burgess Hill (award-winning landscape photography), Haywards Heath (photography by local college students), Horsham (mural by Art-K)

Brighton and Hove: Brighton (iconic photography, history scrim, map by local artist), Hove (art by children at special educational needs school)

About GTR’s wider station improvement programme

GTR’s network-wide, multimillion-pound improvement programme involves over 1,000 projects, many suggested by local passenger and community groups, at more than 250 stations. While we’re working hard to achieve the punctuality and reliability our passengers rightly expect, we want them to know we are with them all the way and making their stations better places to pass through.

The vast number and range of improvements can be described under three themes:

1. Giving many stations a better ambience by redecorating, planting and installing artwork, often with substantial input from the local community

2. Making stations work better for passengers, improving comfort and safety with new waiting rooms and shelters, seating, lighting, information screens, defibrillators for public use, and accessibility schemes

3. Making stations more sustainable, with schemes such as electric vehicle charging points, secure facilities for cyclists, rainwater retention systems, and even bee gardens.

We’ve created dedicated web pages where passengers and local communities can get updates on what’s happening at their station. They can be found at:

• https://www.southernrailway.com/about-us/our-commitments/improving-your-stations
• https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/about-us/our-commitments/improving-your-stations
• https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/about-us/our-commitments/improving-your-stations