RAIL passengers in Scotland face a higher risk of sexual assaults due to staffing changes and a controversial merger of the British Transport Police, campaigners have warned.
Reported sexual offences on trains have more than doubled in the past five years – the vast majority against women – according to figures released under freedom of information laws.
British Transport Police (BTP) figures show 1,448 offences were reported in 2016-17 across the UK, up from 650 in 2012-2013.
The Scottish Government has been criticised for plans to merge British Transport Police with Police Scotland.
Opponents have claimed the change would affect the safety of rail workers and the public due to the loss of a specialist function.
Last night, unions and politicians warned that passengers in Scotland faced a greater risk of attacks due to changes to a shake-up of services.
Unions have claimed that rail operator ScotRail has compromised public safety by the use of driver-only operated trains.
The Aslef train drivers' union said it had evidence of more than 1,200 incidents of trains left with just a driver in Scotland during the 15 months up to June 2017.
Aslef said the lower staffing levels meant there was less protection for the travelling public, with less of a deterrent on committing crimes.
Aslef Scottish secretary Kevin Lindsay said: "We're massively critical about the situation. We've real evidence of at least 1,200 trains where there was just a driver during the 15 month period. It makes rail unsafe for passengers, including vulnerable and disabled people.
"ScotRail might say that if it's 1,000 trains a year that's a small proportion, but that's little consolation for vulnerable passengers on those trains."
However, ScotRail bosses insisted that passenger safety was not at risk.
Safety and Sustainability Director David Lister said: “The safety and security of our staff and customers is our number one priority. We take this issue very seriously, and work closely with the police to tackle this.”
The RMT rail workers' union said it was set to ballot workers over strike action over claims that ScotRail plans to axe 22 jobs at Paisley and Dunfermline CCTV locations.
Mick Hogg, RMT Scottish organiser, said: "ScotRail is planning to do away with CCTV at Paisley and Dunfermline. But we're also concerned about the lack of provision on trains.
"This is all linked to the issue of the safety of passengers and we are hugely concerned about the implications of the BTP merger and driver-only trains."
Manuel Cortes, General Secretary of the TSSA transport union, said the transport police merger and driver-only trains made passengers more vulnerable to assaults.
Cortes said: "The SNP has a golden opportunity to do what's right for Scotland's passengers by keeping BTP as a dedicated police force. It's not just the threat of a BTP merger as sadly since privatisation the number of people who work on the rail networks has significantly decreased.
"We know that passengers find a great reassurance having a member of staff on the train as well as a driver. There's no doubt that having a member of staff on board a train in that way is the biggest possible deterrent to anyone thinking of committing a crime.
"It's high time politicians stopped playing games with passenger safety and that means having more staff, not less."
Labour's shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald, echoed the concerns.
A Scottish Government spokesperson, responding to criticism of the BTP merger, said: "Integration will provide a single command structure for policing in Scotland with seamless access to wider support facilities and specialist resources including Police Scotland’s extensive capabilities for tackling sexual violence, providing an enhanced service provision to the rail industry and travelling public.”
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