An unwanted paint job: New MARTA trains target of recent rail yard vandalism
MARTA police are investigating photos posted online that appear to show multiple security breaches into its gated rail facilities, including an incident reported this month in which one of MARTA’s new trains was vandalized with paint.
It’s the second time the new trains have been tagged with graffiti while parked in the South Yard awaiting the completion of final safety testing, according to police incident reports provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that detail more than a dozen reported instances of vandalism at MARTA’s rail yards this year alone.
Many of the trespassers have so far evaded apprehension.
Reports describe how on one night, individuals were able to tag trains unnoticed even while MARTA police officers were elsewhere in the yard. Closed-circuit cameras captured the trespassers taking pictures and posing after spray-painting graffiti.
In another instance, a train operator told police that he yelled at a man he saw vandalizing a train, who then took off running and disappeared into a waiting vehicle.
Another operator was tipped off to graffiti by the lingering smell of spray paint.
Taken together, the incident reports and photos — posted publicly to an urban photography account on Instagram as far back as 2022, and potentially showcasing trespassing incidents not previously known — show gaps in the agency’s ability to keep its rail lines clear of trespassers. Police believe most entered through holes cut into the barbed-wire fences that surround the yards, according to the reports.
MARTA police spokesperson Sacoria Jackson said the department regularly patrols all rail yards and investigates whenever vandalism is reported. She said the department had no comment on the apparent security breaches shown in the Instagram photos that were shared with the transit agency after being discovered by the AJC, but confirmed the images appearing on social media are under investigation.
Georgia Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, who raised concerns about MARTA’s safety and security earlier this year in a letter to MARTA’s general manager and CEO, said the latest trespassing incident is troubling.
“The vandalism of MARTA’s new railcars is concerning and raises legitimate questions about security at its facilities,” Anavitarte said in a statement, adding that he appreciates the steps MARTA has taken to improve safety. “However, this incident underscores that more work remains. Taxpayers deserve to know … what measures will be taken to prevent similar or more serious security breaches.”
Breaches to the fence line
An operator discovered the latest graffiti just after midnight Oct. 4.
Police couldn’t determine when the brand new railcar was tagged, but an officer wrote in his report that the paint was already dry. He and another officer walked around the edge of the South Yard and saw the fence had been breached in three places. They took photos as evidence before the railcar was scrubbed clean.
Someone else also took photos of the graffiti. Their pictures were posted on Instagram about two weeks later, on Oct. 19.
They were shared by an account that, since 2019, has posted photos taken mostly from the rooftops of skyscrapers. Other posts feature trains and buses from MARTA and transit systems in New Orleans, Philadelphia and St. Louis, Missouri.
The most recent MARTA photos are from the Oct. 4 incident at South Yard, agency spokesperson Payson Schwin said.
They show two people dressed in all black holding cans of spray paint and standing in the rail yard between two parked trains. One sports a face mask covering everything but their eyes.
It’s not clear who took the photos, or who is pictured in them. MARTA has not made an arrest in the incident.
The account owner did not respond to a message from the AJC. A Georgia man whose name appears on another social media account under the same username hung up when reached by a reporter who asked to talk about the MARTA photos.
The account’s Oct. 19 post was one of at least nine since 2022 that show people accessing non-public areas of all three of MARTA’s rail yards. Photos also appear to show someone inside the agency’s light rail vehicle maintenance facility.
Only two posts show vandalism: the one with the new trains, and an Oct. 3 post that shows a masked person spray painting an Atlanta Streetcar vehicle.
It’s unclear when any of the photos were taken. Jackson said it’s unknown when the vandalism to the streetcar occurred. She said no incidents of vandalism at the light rail facility have been reported this year.
A recurring problem
Trespassing is a routine issue for MARTA and other transit agencies.
Just this past weekend, a trespasser on the tracks near Inman Park forced MARTA to temporarily shut down rail power and send in bus shuttles, delaying east-west travel for thousands of riders on a busy Saturday that included a WNBA Finals game, the Atlanta Hawks home opener and an Atlanta United match downtown.
It can also be a deadly issue: In June, MARTA said a man who’d gone onto the tracks at the Civic Center Station was struck and killed while trying to climb back onto the platform.
In the last 10 years, 19 trespassers have been killed on MARTA tracks, according to data reported to the Federal Transit Administration. Two people have died so far this year, and another two were seriously injured.
MARTA has a safety plan meant to mitigate against all kinds of potential threats, ranging from littering and vandalism to terrorism. Additionally, part of the certification process required before the new trains can be put into service involves developing plans to protect against threats to the rail cars, according to records reviewed by the AJC.
It only took a couple of hours to clean the paint off the train after the Oct. 19 incident because of an anti-graffiti coating on the cars’ exterior, Schwin said. That’s one of the mitigation measures to protect against vandalism.
Trains parked in the rail yard overnight can be particularly vulnerable, and MARTA’s plans address at least a dozen-odd potential threats to the new cars. Fencing and video surveillance in the yards are among MARTA’s prevention strategies, records show.
The 15 incidents of vandalism reported at MARTA’s rail yards this year show the potential ways those plans can fail to block an intruder, however.
All of the incidents were reported at either the South Yard or Armour Yard, though in some instances the damage was discovered there but is believed to have occurred elsewhere in an unknown location. Jackson said there have been no instances of vandalism reported at the Avondale rail yard this year.
It’s not always clear to police where trespassers are entering. After one April incident at the South Yard, police identified two possible entry points, reports state. There was a large hole in the fence on one side of the yard, and a section of barbed wire was missing on another side of the yard.
In only one instance has MARTA made an arrest — a June incident in which three men were found inside Armour Yard. One managed to flee, according to reports, but the other two were arrested and charged with trespassing.
The men had spray-painted one of the train cars, MARTA police said. The report didn’t say how they gained access to the restricted area.
A little over a month later, police were dispatched back to Armour Yard when a rail supervisor reported damage to the fence in multiple places.
Data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this report.