More danger on trains in Melbourne than in London or New York

PUBLIC transport users in Victoria are more likely to be attacked than commuters in New York, London or Sydney.

Assaults, sex offences, robberies and thefts soared last year, police figures show.

While public transport crime was up 2.5 per cent, transit police insiders say squad numbers have dropped to a new low of less than 200.

The Hurstbridge train line was rated worst for crime, followed by Frankston, Pakenham and Lilydale.

The shock figures come amid a fresh outbreak of violent crime on Melbourne's transit system.

A woman was stabbed and sexually assaulted on a train between North Melbourne and Southern Cross Station yesterday afternoon.

It was the latest in a spate of attacks on women over the past two months, including the bashing of a mentally handicapped woman on the Frankston line.

And in the Supreme Court yesterday, a drug user was jailed for 22 years for the stabbing murder of a stranger on the Belgrave line in 2006.

While transit crime in Victoria went up last year, New York's subway crime rate went down by 13 per cent, and London Tube crime dropped 11 per cent.

A Herald Sun investigation shows:

TRANSIT crime in Victoria was double that of NSW: 9559 incidents to 4766.

NEW York's subway averages just 6.5 felonies a day, while 26 crimes are committed daily on Victorian public transport -- almost five a day involving violence.

LONDON'S Underground, which carries more than double Victoria's passenger numbers, recorded a much lower rate of sex offences.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said transit police and station staff levels dictated the level of crime.

Melbourne has 105 stations without staff, 73 fully staffed, and 31 manned for peak periods.

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drew_j said:

Hurstbridge the worst? I've traveled that line nearly every day for 5 years including late night on weekends multiple times. I have NEVER seen a crime on this line. This headline should be changed to 'Newspaper preys on readers fear to sell papers!'

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drew_j said:

Hurstbridge the worst? I've traveled that line nearly every day for 5 years including late night on weekends multiple times. I have NEVER seen a crime on this line. This headline should be changed to 'Newspaper preys on readers fear to sell papers!'

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Magpie said:

More danger on trains in Melbourne than in London or New York

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A SECRET internal log has revealed gangs of violent youths, drunks, glue sniffers and sexual predators are rampant across Melbourne's public transport network.

A three-year diary of public transport assaults - obtained under Freedom of Information - has exposed the extent of the violence.

The revelations in the dossier have prompted calls for immediate action, only days after it was claimed Melbourne's train network was more dangerous than London, New York and Sydney.

As passenger trips across the network soar by tens of thousands each year, the Public Transport Safety Victoria log shows violence and anti-social behaviour happen daily.

Incidents recorded include:

A GANG of men threatened passengers with scissors on a Craigieburn line train;

A PASSENGER sexually assaulted children on a train near Frankston station;

A FEMALE beggar on the Cranbourne line spat on a woman who refused to give her money;

A PAINT sniffer who harassed passengers at South Yarra train station head-butted a Connex staff member.

An analysis of the 1293 public transport incident reports obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun shows most incidents occurred on trains.

The City Loop was the most dangerous place to catch a train, followed by the Frankston, Pakenham, Werribee and Cranbourne lines.

The Flemington Racecourse/Showgrounds line was the safest, with three incidents documented during the period from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007.

V/Line routes Melton and Stony Point were also among the safest, while Glen Waverley was the least dangerous regular train service.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the shocking incidents showed the need for more transit police.

"They have to boost security on the network," he said.

A snap poll of travellers at Flinders St station last week showed passengers were frightened, with 70 per cent saying they felt scared on trains.

But with petrol prices still above $1.50 per litre, they felt forced to ride the rails.

Train traveller Kelly Green, 29, said she was harassed by two men on the Cranbourne line this month.

On her way home alone after working late on a Friday, Ms Green was travelling between Dandenong and Merinda Park when the men, aged in their 20s, sat next to her and started to touch her leg.

The carriage was otherwise empty.

Ms Green rushed to leave the train as it approached her station.

"I'm starting to get nervous about it," Ms Green said.

"I'm never travelling on a non-peak-hour train again after that."

East Brighton's Kelly Halliday, 20, said drunken young men often harassed her and her friends when they were travelling to the city to go out on a Friday night.

Wonthaggi's Geoff Tinkler, who commutes to Melbourne daily for work, said he was scared when his wife and daughter used the trains.

About 200 transit police and 350 Connex authorised officers patrol the train system.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said additional transit police were the only way Premier John Brumby and Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky would curb the incidents.

But Connex and Victoria Police's Transit Safety Division said they had no plans for more officers.

Both agencies said their "intelligence-based" enforcement system, which targeted crime and anti-social behaviour hot spots, was working.

Transit Safety Division Superintendent Chris O'Neill said crime had fallen across the public transport system by 27.4 per cent between 2002 and 2008.

But he said last year's public transport crime figures had increased by 8.4 per cent. He said that was mainly due to thefts from cars parked at train stations.

Victoria Police, Connex and the RACV will launch a new car safety awareness program on Thursday to reduce the number of such incidents.

Supt O'Neill said his transit officers were not over stretched.

"This is what intelligence-led policing is about. It's really doing what you can and targeting for the right time and right place," he said.

Connex customer services general manager Geoff Young said he used public transport daily and always felt safe.

He said security cameras linked directly to police stations, good lighting at stations and better use of ticket inspectors had reduced reported incidents.

Reports to Connex dropped from 3898 in the last half of last year to 2196 in the first half of this year, he said.

But he said there would never be a crime-free rail network because there were hundreds of thousands of people using the lines each day.

"You have got to accept that there's probably 10 ratbags out of an MCG crowd of people - and that's reality," he said.

A spokesman for Ms Kosky, Stephen Moynihan, said the State Government constantly monitored the level of staffing on the rail network.

Increases in crime on or around public transport had to be considered in the context of increased patronage, he said.

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