Partners promote St Albans with landmark mural at City station

Train operator Thameslink is supporting the promotion of St Albans as a visitor destination with a mural depicting some of the city’s major attractions. The artwork above the station’s entrance was created in partnership with St Albans BID (Business Improvement District), who provided the individual symbol designs, and community and environmental charity Groundwork East, who managed the manufacture and installation.

The mural’s four golden symbols represent the city’s Old Town Hall, The Clock Tower, the Abbey, and the remains of Roman Verulamium. They were engraved into metal by local company Precision Engraving and Profiling Ltd.

Thameslink commissioned the partnership project as part of a network-wide, multimillion-pound programme to make stations more attractive, comfortable and sustainable. At St Albans the programme also includes extra cycle parking and electric vehicle charging points, and a new waiting shelter.

Thameslink’s Managing Director Tom Moran said: “We called out to communities to help us brighten up their stations, and we’ve been amazed by the quality and quantity of artwork that’s been provided. 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!

“Like many of the projects, the St Albans mural has been inspired by much-loved local attractions and produced by a true local partnership, involving Groundwork East, the local BID and Visitor Partnership, and the City Council. These station enhancements don’t just make our stations more vibrant and inspiring for our customers - they give us an even stronger bond with the communities we serve.”

Denise Parsons, Manager of St Albans BID, said: “We’re delighted to have worked closely with the Thameslink team to produce this amazing 3D artwork, which is a great addition to our busy city centre station. The design complements our existing ‘Enjoy St Albans’ branding boards on display, which have been welcoming visitors for the last 12 months.”

Thameslink is also supporting St Alban’s BID’s “Nutcracker Trail”. The station is currently hosting a very special guest - one of the BID's 15 nutcracker soldiers who form a Christmas trail encouraging families to explore the city over the festive season. People who collect the names of all 15 soldiers can enter a prize draw with the chance to win a £250 or £50 gift voucher. The competition runs until Sunday 2^nd January.

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About Govia Thameslink Railway’s station improvement programme

GTR’s network-wide, multimillion-pound station improvement programme has completed over 1,300 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, water management 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