The red-faced teenagers spent four hours cleaning up the bridge at Furnace Lane in Woodhouse under the supervision of Youth Offending Service workers and staff from Network Rail.

The pair, aged 14 and 15, had earlier been caught and later convicted of Criminal Damage at Sheffield Magistrates' Court.

Kevin Preece, area general manager for Network Rail, said: "Some may think graffiti is a bit of harmless fun, but in reality it's a serious blight on the local environment and, in many cases, unpleasant for passengers and local people to look at.

"Our maintenance crews fight a constant battle to remove graffiti, which in some cases appears almost as soon as it's cleared away.

"In addition to the unsightly disadvantages of graffiti, anyone trespassing on the railway is literally playing with their lives as they could be hit by a train or electrocuted.

"They are also trespassing and could face a substantial fine.

"We were delighted to work with the Youth Offending Service team to get these teenagers to complete their reparation work cleaning this bridge. We take a very tough line on graffiti and consider it to be a very serious offence.

"Not only is it an anti-social crime, it costs the railway industry millions of pounds every year, diverting valuable resources away from improving the railway.

"We have a team of Railway Crime Education Managers who work with young people to highlight the dangers of misusing and trespassing on the railway."

Andy Peaden, Sheffield Youth Offending Service Manager, added: "Direct reparation is a great example of how Sheffield Youth Offending Service is committed to ensuring young people make amends for their actions, direct to the people and communities their offence has affected.

"A lot of work we do with young people goes unseen by the general public but reparation is different - it is young people out in the community making a positive impact on areas affected by crime.

"The Network Rail project is a fantastic example of this."

Network Rail runs a campaign called No Messin', which aims to raise awareness of railway safety among young people by giving them ideas about positive ways to spend their time, rather than play on the railway.

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