THERE has been an increase in reports of assaults on women on the Caledonian Sleeper, MSPs have been told.
Holyrood’s Transport Committee was also told of an increase in reported assaults on ScotRail trains.
Hannah Ross, the chief executive of Scottish Rail Holdings – the company which operates the Caledonian Sleeper since it was brought into public ownership in 2023 – said that there had been “a handful of issues of anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls on the Caledonian Sleeper”.
Describing it as a “really serious and crucial issue”, she was pressed on whether numbers had gone up or down.
Ross told MSPs there had been “an increase in reports being made to us”, although she added she “would not like to speculate about whether that is a genuine increase or it is an increase in reporting”.
She stressed to the committee: “The board at Caledonian Sleeper and the executive team at Caledonian Sleeper take it incredibly seriously and are motivated to respond fully.”
Meanwhile Joanne Maguire, managing director of ScotRail, said that across its network there has been “an increase in reports of assaults”.
She stressed however this was “proportionate in some cases to the numbers travelling” adding that ScotRail encourages both its passengers and staff to report any incidents.
“We will look at verbal assaults, we look at physical assaults, we look at them very closely,” Maguire told MSPs.
“But we have seen an increase. Unfortunately there is a societal challenge with anti-social behaviour and the railway experiences that.”
The ScotRail boss stressed to MSPs that “the safety of our passengers and our staff is of absolute paramount importance to us”, adding that “the safety of women and girls is particularly personally important to me”.
She said since the rail operator was taken into public ownership in 2022, there had been a “significant investment in safety, personal safety, across the railway”.
Here she highlighted investment in CCTV equipment at both stations and on trains, with increasing use of body worn cameras, with the number of these available for staff going from 300 to 1000.
Maguire stated: “Our commitment is every frontline member of staff has a body worn camera available to them, and there are reports that show they do reduce the number of offences on the railway.”
Ross meanwhile said work was being done to expand the use of body worn cameras on the Caledonian Sleeper.
While she said that CCTV systems are in place on sleeper trains she said this was “in the public areas” and does not cover the whole train.
