Anti-social behaviour on Central Coast trains will be in the spotlight this Summer, as police aim to keep the public transport network safe this holiday season.
The Police Transport and Public Safety Command (PT&PS) – with the assistance of Sydney Trains – has launched Operation Rampart; a proactive and high-impact operation focussing on reducing crime on the public transport network.
The three-month operation began on Monday, November 17, and will run until Friday, February 16 – specifically targeting issues such as general anti-social behaviour, assaults, property offences and buffer riding.
PT&PSC South West Commander, Superintendent Mark Wall, said the operation has been allocated substantial resources as transport safety remains an area of major concern.
“The PT&PS Command and Sydney Trains have entered into an agreement that saw the commencement of both Operation Rampart and the Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP),” he said.
“The EEP provides additional funded shifts designed for officers tasked to patrol the railway lines and particularly target those committing buffer riding offences.
“The message is simple; don’t put your life at risk trying to impress your friends, or with the goal of getting ‘views’ on social media.”
Transport for NSW Secretary Josh Murray said last year saw 27 incidents of people ‘buffer riding’ or ‘roof riding’ on light rail vehicles.
“This is far from harmless fun, or content for a social media reel – it puts the safety of passengers, staff and the person themselves at serious risk,” he said.
“People who hold onto the light rail while on a bike or scooter are duelling with danger.
“Despite their name, light rail vehicles weigh a minimum of 40 tonnes when empty, so are anything but light if they make contact with a person, bike, scooter or skateboard.
“Warning signs against buffer riding are installed on light rail vehicles for a reason – people breaking the rules can easily fall and suffer serious injuries or die, and those climbing on the vehicles run high risk of electrocution.”
Sydney Trains Head of Security and Intelligence Jess Sharpe said anti-social behaviour and buffer riding cause huge delays to the rail network preventing passengers from getting to work or home in a timely way.
“So far this year anti-social behaviour (has) caused nearly 11,000 minutes in delays – that equates to nearly eight days’ worth of delays,” Sharpe said.
“And incidents of trespassing into the rail corridor have cause 24 days’ worth of delays on the network in the past year.
“We work closely with the Police Transport Command to target and deter anti-social behaviour as well as criminal behaviour, and provide CCTV footage to help identify any risk takers.
“We see have seen a rise in buffer riding incidents during the school holidays.
“Our trains weigh 400 tonnes and travel up to 110km/h.
“This is an extremely dangerous thing to do.
“People risk being seriously injured or killed all for a silly thrill; it is not worth it.
“The impact these stupid acts have on our staff cannot be put into words; they are traumatic at the very least.”
Anyone with information about Operation Rampart is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on1800 333 000 or at https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au
It’s a dame shame they don’t do it on buses, as a driver for about 35 years the behavior on our buses is a bloody disgrace drivers are being abused every day just for asking people to pay their fare, some of the young kids are just causing havoc and the poor drivers have no one to help them, the ticket inspectors are just hopeless, I could go on and on on this matter so what about doing something on the buses. Dave