We must be able to feel safe on our trains

MANY of an older generation will remember a television advertisement that said ‘let the train take the strain’. That is what rail travel should be – a calming, relaxing alternative to driving into any of our major cities.

How sad, then, that intimidation and violence, and other anti-social behaviour, are on the rise. Following a Freedom of Information request by this newspaper, we learn that there have been 170 complaints about disorderly passengers in the first six months of this year, almost as many as the total for 2017. Some of the incidents are shocking. On the Dart, a reporter from the Daily Mail witnessed a 20-minute tirade against a group of men and women from India who were told to ‘f*** off home’. On mainline rail, a man punched a 15-year-old girl in the face on the Dublin to Westport train and, when the driver intervened, he too was assaulted.

Add in multiple instances of gangs ‘tagging’ trains with graffiti, and even urination on trains, as was witnessed when large numbers of music fans were returning from a gig in Malahide Castle earlier this year, and it is apparent that we desperately need a Special Transport Police Unit to be established in line with a new Fianna Fáil policy on the issue.

Many elderly people love to use their free travel to explore parts of the country they haven’t visited before, and they take the train to do so. They have every right to travel in safety, and not have to worry about yobs misbehaving, or even threatening them. Train travel has always been the most civilised way to get about, and it is vitally important that every step is taken to ensure that remains the case.