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London rail station axes falling passenger artwork
2008-10-13
The sculpture shows a man about to fall under a subway car driven by a Grim Reaper figure. Its creator says it was meant as a tribute to train drivers and the risks they face. But the work's planned home, a London railway station, said Monday it had canceled plans to put it on display after complaints by railway unions and the families of suicide victims. Officials at St. Pancras Station, the hub for Eurostar high-speed shuttle services to France and Belgium, said the carving by sculptor Paul Day was inappropriate. The image was intended as part of a bronze frieze encircling the base of Day's work "The Meeting Place," a 30-foot (9 meter) statue of an embracing couple that stands on the station concourse. A clay model of part of the frieze went on display at the station last week. It shows a series of railway-related scenes, including soldiers heading off to war and emergency workers helping victims of the July 7, 2005 London transit bombings. Day said the contentious image -- shown reflected in a pair of sunglasses -- was meant "as a view of the mind's eye of a train driver." "Rather than depicting suicide, it is depicting the fears these drivers do face," Day told BBC radio. He said he hoped it would encourage people to "respect and admire that particular job." A train drivers' union and families of people who have committed suicide on the railways criticized the image as insensitive. Station owner London and Continental Railways said the frieze would go ahead without the disputed section. Spokesman Ben Ruse said the company welcomed Day's "challenging" work. But he said CEO Rob Holden had decided that "the particular scene of a rail passenger in front of a Tube train will not form part of the final frieze." The finished frieze is due to be in place by mid-2009.
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