Overview
- Thursday's Office of Rail and Road dataset showed 13,464 reported assaults on non-railway members on mainline services for April 2025–March 2026, a 36% rise from the prior year, and 5,534 reported assaults on the London Underground public, up 20%.
- Reported assaults on mainline rail workers climbed 12% to 11,289 incidents, which included 6,390 cases of verbal abuse, 2,487 physical assaults and 2,412 threats, while London Underground staff reports fell by 3% to 3,525.
- The ORR says harassment and common assault make up the bulk of incidents and that verbal abuse is the largest single category affecting staff, which regulators link to growing operational and safety pressures for frontline workers.
- Regulatory and industry responses include ORR inspectors checking employers' risk management and support for staff and RSSB urging public behaviour change, with operators pointing to measures such as expanded body-worn cameras and improved reporting.
- Unions led by the RMT renewed calls for more staff, an end to lone working, stronger legal protections and changes to policing and security funding, which could prompt policy and funding shifts and operational reforms on the network.