SNP ministers will consider the introduction of female-only carriages on Scotland’s trains after they vowed to use their control of the network to improve women’s safety.
Jenny Gilruth, the SNP transport minister, said on Wednesday there was a “systemic problem” of women feeling too scared to travel on public transport “because of men’s behaviour”.
As part of new measures to be rolled out once ScotRail services comes into public ownership on April 1, she vowed to “fix” the problem and will consult with women’s groups about how to make train travel “safer and more enjoyable”.
Ann Moulds, chief executive of the charity Action Against Stalking, said she would take part in the review and strongly encourage Ms Gilruth to introduce carriages in which all men are banned.
Make the problem worse
The idea has previously been floated by Jeremy Corbyn and has proved controversial, with some suggesting that “segregation” would make the problem worse and prove “insulting” to women.
However, Ms Moulds said the move would offer choice and denied female-only carriages would prove a “backwards step”.
Transport Scotland last night did not rule out female-only carriages, saying it would look at “other examples of best practice” as part of a “wide-ranging national conversation”.
Female train or metro carriages are used in other countries including India, Japan and Dubai.
“If women feel unsafe, fearful or threatened by being on a train or a mixed carriage, they should have the choice of going into a women-only carriage.” Ms Moulds said. “We’ve got to deal with reality and not ideology. There are predators and opportunists who are part of our society.
“In an ideal society it would be nice not to have them. But until men behave better, women don’t really have a choice. To be forced to share a carriage when they feel threatened or frightened is unfair on women.
“I will be making the case for this as part of it because I feel very strongly about it. Some women might not choose it, but it should be an option available for those who do.”
In a statement at Holyrood yesterday, Ms Gilruth said she had personal experience of feeling unsafe on trains as a woman.
The former teacher, who represents Mid-Fife and Glenrothes, spoke about making sure not to get the last train back to Fife “because it’s full of drunk men” who would “squeeze in beside you despite the fact that you’re surrounded by empty seats”.
She added: “I want our railways to be safe places for women to travel. We need to identify as a government where it is that women feel unsafe on our public transport systems, and then identify how we’re going to fix it.
Consulting with women’s organisations
“We will be commissioning and consulting with women and women’s organisations across the country to better understand their experiences of how we can improve our public transport system to make it safer and more enjoyable for them to use.”
The Dutch company Abellio will stop running Scotrail trains at the end of March when an “arm’s length” Scottish Government company will take over.
The rail network is facing challenges as a result of declining passenger numbers since the onset of the pandemic. Ms Gilruth said some people were still “scared to return to using public transport” because of Covid-19.
She said the Scottish Government needed to “work on” its messaging so that people were encouraged back onto trains.
However, opposition parties raised fears that the SNP was unprepared for taking over Scotrail and called for a commitment to lower fares.
Asked about the prospect of women only carriages being introduced, a Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “While it is too early in what we expect will be a wide-ranging national conversation to comment on any specific measures, we will look at other examples of best practice and take a variety of views on such initiatives into consideration.”
