French Soldier at Calais Station, Calais, France, 2012

Even today, a station is maintained at Calais. The last time I had ridden the Eurostar, I had noted a large amount of graffitti on the CTRL, which seemed completely unacceptable to me. It isn't just ugly, but on a high speed line, in the post-9/11, post-Madrid world (not to mention earlier attacks specifically on the LGV system), it indicates an unacceptably low level of security. I'm nowhere close to a security fanatic, but a high speed line, like an airport, must be secure. Apparently, the French government had noticed, too, and put soldiers on the ends of the platforms, complete with bullpup rifles of some kind (probably FAMAS rifles). It's surprising how much vandalism happens completely out in the open, with little sophistication. Often vandals damage stations right under the CCTV cameras, and get onto the lines not with wire cutters or any such commando-like tools or tactics, but simply walk off the ends of the platforms or through gaps in the sound walls. Speaking of that, I've never understood the point of building a wall or a fence if you're going to put gaps in it or make it low enough to step over. It seems like a tremendous waste of money. Ultimately, vandalism is much easier to deal with than we were lead to believe back in the 1980's. It just takes a will, as evidenced by the drastic cleanup of the New York City subway system in the 1990's.