Britain's railway assaults reach record high, ORR reports

Harassment cases up 52% on mainline rail, regulator says

Reported assaults against passengers and members of the public on Great Britain’s mainline railway rose 36% in 2025-26 to 13,464 incidents, the Office of Rail and Road said Wednesday. The total was the highest since the regulator began tracking the figures in 2004. Combined with staff assaults, the railway recorded nearly 25,000 reported incidents over the year — a record high.

Assaults on rail staff climbed 12% in the same period to 11,289 reported incidents, the ORR said. The figure includes nearly 2,500 physical assaults — an average of about seven a day — with the remainder mainly verbal abuse. The regulator noted that workforce assaults are now recorded even when no physical injury occurs, a methodological change that may affect year-on-year comparisons.

The ORR cautioned that its headline numbers can include multiple counts from one incident — for example a single encounter counted as both harassment and common assault. On the London Underground, where single counting is used, the number of assaults on the workforce fell slightly last year.

Specific categories saw sharper increases. Harassment cases rose 52% year on year, the ORR said, while common assault rose 30%. The regulator attributed part of the increase to greater reporting and zero-tolerance campaigns on public transport, alongside underlying concerns about threats to frontline workers and the availability of transport police.

The RMT union, which represents rail workers, said its own surveys show two-thirds of its members experienced some form of violence at work in the past year. Eddie Dempsey, the union’s general secretary, called the ORR figures “horrendous” and called for “a significant increase in staffing across public transport, including an end to lone working.” Dempsey also called for “stronger legal protections for public transport workers against assaults at work” and said “British Transport Police funding cuts have also been disastrous which has undermined a proper policing presence on all public transport.”

Richard Hines, the ORR’s chief inspector of railways, said the increase was “concerning” and that “no one on the railway should be subjected to violence, threats or abuse.” The regulator is “working with industry and our trade union colleagues to address work-related violence and harassment, including through recent guidance which sets out what we expect from rail employers,” Hines said. That guidance includes “understanding where the risks are, putting effective controls in place, encouraging staff to report incidents and providing appropriate support afterwards,” he added. “Our inspectors will continue to check how these risks are being managed,” Hines said.

A spokesperson for Network Rail and train operators said violence, abuse and intimidation directed at passengers or staff are “completely unacceptable” and that the rail industry works with British Transport Police to investigate incidents, support victims and bring offenders to justice. The spokesperson said the reported numbers also reflect greater intelligence sharing, improved reporting processes, and more CCTV and body-worn cameras for frontline staff.

Mark Phillips, chief executive of the Rail Safety and Standards Board, said the rail industry was taking action to better protect staff but the figures “underline the need for a change in public behaviour and greater respect for the people who keep the railway running safely every day.”

Reports in recent years have highlighted that women and girls were at particular risk, while the year-on-year rise in assaults since the pandemic has coincided with pressure on British Transport Police numbers. The Department for Transport and British Transport Police were approached for comment.

Patterns documented on the railways mirror those reported in other frontline sectors. The British Retail Consortium, a trade association, warned earlier this year of “endemic” violence toward shop workers. Separately, the number of reports of violence against NHS staff by patients surpassed 100,000 in 2025.