Alison Hernandez: Train stabbings signal to improve transport safety

The devastating mass train stabbings in Cambridgeshire and shocking incidents at stations in our own police force area have highlighted an urgent need to improve safety for those using public transport. 

The stabbings of 10 people on board the Doncaster to London King's Cross service while in Cambridgeshire on November 1, came just two days after a man in his 50s was subjected to a despicable act of violence while walking up the steps of Polsloe Bridge Station in Exeter. 

During the same week, vile teenager Sonny Boyes was found guilty of a double sex attack which included sexually assaulting a second victim when she was walking to catch a train at Digby and Sowton railway station. The attack continued on the platform and then also on the train. 

I regularly travel by train and within the past few months have personally had cause to feel unsafe while on my own on three occasions, two of which I reported immediately to British Transport Police (BTP) via its excellent text service and caused a train to stop until police arrived. 

No woman, man or child should have to witness or be a victim of violence and harassment while receiving a paid for service. 

It is important to remember that as shocking as all these incidents are, they are not an everyday occurrence. However, assaults on passengers have worryingly hit an all-time high. According to Rail and Road (ORR) statistics, in 2024, 10,231 instances were recorded on British mainline rail – including 4,395 cases of harassment, 3,805 cases of common assault and 1,613 cases of actual bodily harm. It is the highest number in 20 years of recorded data and an increase of 6.9 per cent year-on-year.  

Former BTP Chief Constable Andy Trotter has been quoted in the national media calling for a broader review of security, the need for more BTP and a need for “more security from the rail companies themselves". 

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander reportedly told the BBC the government would "review security arrangements" in the UK following the train stabbings and respond "swiftly and in a proportionate way". 

That is why I am personally writing to Lucy D’Orsi, Chief Constable of BTP, urging that we explore whether technology can help make our transport network safer, including improved CCTV and facial recognition technology. 

The force has already invested in facial recognition technology, including a police van that is in development but is ready to be trialled at various locations. 

In an ideal world we would have more visible police patrols at mainline stations across Devon and Cornwall. Despite policing resources already being overstretched, we have more frontline officers than ever before carrying out patrols in our towns and neighbourhoods, assisted by more new police community support officers (PCSOs). 

Ensuring people return home safely has been an ongoing priority for my office. It is why we fund affordable night buses on Saturday evenings throughout Devon and Cornwall in North Devon, Torquay, Plymouth and Exeter, including through the darker winter months. We also run one in Newquay from May to September. 

In Devon, 11,030 passengers have used these buses so far, and 745 in Cornwall – with not one reported incident of violence or harassment having occurred.  

The ongoing focus has to be preventing more people from becoming victims of traumatic crimes, simply because they chose to travel by public transport.