A huge tidy-up is taking place to remove swathes of rubbish, litter and graffiti blighting the route of the royal train ahead of the Queen's visit to Bradford today.

Network Rail, which is responsible for the tracks and embankments, says it has ordered a £5,000 blitz on vandalism, fly-tipping and paint-daubed walls and buildings on the way into the Interchange.

But the move prompted criticism from rail-users who say it gives a false impression of what the track is usually like and it should not take a royal visit to force the clean-up.

Network Rail says it plans to spend a further £20,000 cleaning along the line to New Pudsey after the Queen's visit.

Telegraph & Argus journalists travelled the line between Bradford and New Pudsey on Monday and found it lined with graffiti-strewn bridges, electrical boxes and walls.

Dumped wooden pallets, tarpaulins, tyres and a shopping trolley could also be seen alongside other rubbish like crisp packets, take-away food boxes and plastic drums and bottles. Passengers using the Interchange last night looked down on the tracks to see food wrappers, cigarette packets, cans and bottles clogging up the space near the buffers.

Network Rail, in charge of the train tracks and embankments, and Metro, which has control of the Interchange, both insisted work was being done to improve the area.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "We are in the process of cleaning up the embankment around Bradford Interchange following a request from the Council. Our teams will be working all week to remove rubbish illegally dumped on the embankments. We estimate the cost of this work will be around £5,000. Further work to continue the clean-up along the line to New Pudsey will follow. That work is expected to cost around £20,000. Illegal fly-tipping and graffiti is a huge problem for the rail industry. It costs us millions of pounds each year."

Bradford Councillor Stanley King, chairman of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, said every effort was being made to ensure the Interchange was looking its best: "It will be even more spick and span than usual."

But many passengers said they were less than impressed with the state of the station and embankments. Student Mel Daniels, 31, of Holme Wood, Bradford, said: "It's a disgrace. If they are going to do something they should do it for everybody. To do something for her being here gives a false impression."

Pauline Yates, 69, of Leeds, said: "It's disgusting, actually: there is a lot of litter. They should make the effort for everybody, not just clean it up for the Queen coming."

Kevin Gladock, 43, of Halifax, said he believed the Interchange could be made to be more welcoming. He said: "To be brutally honest she will have been to a lot worse places but it's not particularly a nice place."

Chef Ben Einchbeck, 25, of Leeds, said: "It's not a nice place. First impressions are untidy and dirty, it's just not nice."

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