Cape Town - In light of the new Rail Enforcement Unit hopping onto city trains to fight burgeoning crimes on trains on Monday, the Weekend Argus lists some of the dangers commuters come across on trains; the types of crimes and areas where crimes are most prevalent in and around the city.
The rail unit is a result of a partnership between the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), the Western Cape provincial government and the City of Cape Town.
Long fingers
When you step on or out of a Metrorail train in Bellville, be vigilant during the pushing and shoving when passengers try to board the train. There have been a number of incidents where passengers have been pick-pocketed in such circumstances. These usually happen during morning and evening peak.
Elsies River
Most of the trains have no window panes and this presents an opportunity for phone snatchers.
Their modus operandi is to keep the sliding doors of the running train open as they target their unwitting victim, who is usually on social media, chatting the ride away.
The second a train departs, the transgressors, usually teenage boys, hop off and run to the open window and snatch a phone before getting away via the unmanned subway entry and exit points.
At this point, the victim has no way of chasing them as the in-motion train doors close shut. This crime usually happens on Fridays and especially at month-end.
Stops
Due to cable theft and vandalism to infrastructure, the trains usually stop in crime-ravaged areas and in the most awkward times.
Don't board carriages alone and always carry cash so you can catch a taxi as Metrorail doesn't appear to dispatch buses anymore.
Level crossings
Motorists aren't safe too. There boom swing near the Koelenhof station, and often motorists are forced to climb out of their vehicles in order to peak whether there is an oncoming train or not. In 2011, the Department of Transport identified top seven dangerous level crossings in the province.
Over the years, Metrorail and the Western Cape Department of Public Works and Transport have said they were looking to eliminate level crossings.
There have been several accidents in the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath.
Rock-throwing
There have been several reported incidents of rock-throwing from outside moving trains. The Weekend Argus has witness some of these between Bellville and Kuils River.
A security guard told this publication that a passenger died last week after a rail rock thrown into the train bashed her head just outside Bellville.