VANCOUVER -- A Surrey, BC, man is charged in the slashing of almost 500 SkyTrain seats.

After reviewing "hundreds of hours" of video footage, transit police arrested Terald Nicholas Gorecki, 63, a former contract SkyTrain maintenance worker.

From August through November 2012, some 480 SkyTrain seats were slashed with a box cutter, causing damages estimated at more than $45,000.

Gorecki, who is known to police, is charged with mischief over $5,000. He was released on condition he remain away from any SkyTrain or B.C. Transit property, does not possess any knives or sharp instruments except for the preparation and consumption of food while in residence, and does not possess any tools outside his workplace.

Gorecki will make his next court appearance in February.