Women-only train carriages

I think mixed carriages are best but agree that more staff would be good. My pet hate is when I have a seat booked at a table and opposite is a man who rather than sit with knees bent sticks his legs out straight and onto my side of the space under the table. This has happened so many times that I now avoid booking a seat at a table if possible.

I wouldn't use them but not against having them for those that would As a Scot I have no problem with self identification ScotRail still have train managers/conductors / guards

It's more being alone in a totally empty carriage that is the problem, think I'd be moving to a busier one for my safety.

I initially thought ‘what a good idea’ and then read the rest of Doodledog’s post and thought ‘perhaps not.’ So on balance, probably not.

Daisend1

Farzanah *a
Why sit women only if you had a male companion with you?
As said *women only*

A Good point.

It's a no from me.

MissAdventure

I would use this carriage.

youtu.be/xctzp0dp9uc

? Me too

This is just s thought …. instead of trying to sanction bad behaviour by isolating the target of it…. why not spend more money in school , on properly socialising young people to become decent members of society. Also put the blame where mostly it belongs ….on bad parenting!

I believe India has discontinued Ladies' carriages feeling that they were not modern or democratic.

I can't see the point of Women only carriages when biological males may define themselves as females and we are not allowed to comment or keep them out of women's public toilets.

The only way to make people safer, and I write people advisedly, is to make sure there are either traffic police or security guards on all trains and buses.

Men have been mugged or subjected to racist attacks or homosexual rape on trains. Women-only carriages won't prevent violence against men, will it?

Not a good idea - blanket exclusion policies always cause problems. That said I'd very much welcome buses that prohibit the use of mobile phones on board!

In the town I lived in, a rapist hid in the stalls in the “ladies”. It wasn’t well used so he had his pick of victims. I’d prefer to have mixed gender everything with small lockable stalls, in which no one can hide, but be private. I have a feeling a potential sex attacker would fine gender based train carriages very helpful indeed, if they are used by the minority of women. Most of us are accompanied by men and won’t want to be separated.

Pepper59

Id rather they had more guards on the trains.

Absolutely the best idea. Also far better cctv, easily monitored from a central point. The technology is available and I would personally feel a lot safer. Coming back by train from N.E. Scotland last year (the rules for masks were still in place but not enforced) on a very packed train from Haymarket, everyone was getting jostled. How do they propose to put aside a Women Only carriage that's got seating available without forceful, arrogant men demanding access? The whole thing is bonkers. As for who "identifies as female", I believe the situation has now become so woolly and confusing nobody's got a clue who is what gender, but there are nasty sods of every belief who will take advantage of someone in a vulnerable situation. More staff with more clout = more safety.

I used to catch the 8am to London Bridge in the 60s and always got in the Ladies only 8 seater carriage, with no corridor. However in these days I couldn’t trust the others, JKR, I would have to get in an open carriage to feel safe.

From my experience banning alcohol on trains would improve matters, both from a safety point of view and the general ambience!

I remember the women only waiting rooms and also the ladies only sections on the old Metropolitan tube line. Each carriage was divided into about 8 sections - they were not open plan- each section had its own doors and seated about 8 to 10 people - five a side facing each other- - rather like the trains with a corridor except that they had no corridor - so you were trapped in your section until you reached a station. Then you could open the appropriate door and get out- could see the point with trains like this.

With Scotland working to introduce discrimination laws on self declaration how will that work on women only train carriages. A body may look like a male, dress like a male but self declare to be a female. It's causing enough problems with changing rooms in stores. If seats are in short supply in standard carriages but available in women's only won't a male just say Oh,I'm actually a female. Ms Sturgeon will do anything for votes especially from the young. Women only carriages, bad idea.

I really liked them .
I felt safe .
I was nearly raped on the rain twice as a teenager .

And about seven years ago I was sexually assaulted in a pub in broad daylight and at the busstop late at night .

It's not something that expect to happened when you are a grandma .

They aren't enough guards and there's too much reliance on CC TV - which is after the event and too fuzzy .

I think that we females are still vulnerable in this modern age .

As a regular train rider, I’m not sure I would like that to be segregated that’s history going back over. It’s 2022 not 1822. I do remember once thou going to see my oldest son and family on a train to Manchester. Train was really quiet then pulled into a station and it filled with football fans all singing etc it made me really nervous until this police officer sat next to me phew lol but they were no problem at all. That’s only time I was nervous on train. And I’ve being on with hens and stags and even Christmas Eve this year which felt like a booze train hardly anyone had a mask on but me and few others. But no train staff come through in the 2hrs I was on the train. Bring back conductors on all public transport and women wouldn’t need different part.

I’ve not found I’ve needed one. Reminds me of trip to Dubai when we leapt on train just leaving station to find that husband and I were in women only carriage - after the doors had shut. He hastily made his way through to mens section expecting to be thrown into prison - was bit like fox in chicken coop.

The issue of the problem is that men are committing sexual harassment, sexual assaults and they get away with it - not even a slap on the wrist

The police needs to start arresting those perpetrators and sending them to jail

I would use this carriage.

youtu.be/xctzp0dp9uc

I think I would prefer keeping them mixed and with guards. Sometimes groups of young women can intimidate you as well as men nowadays. I hear more and more now of some poor girl on her own being set on by a group of other girls, it was on our local news the other day, the child was 12 and they gave her a terrible beating for no reason.

Last time I texted the BTP I got a reply 30 mins later. The original text had provided every detail they needed, they asked for all the info again and by then I was no longer on the train. On the underground there is CCTV in the carriages (district line) and the drivers has screens so they often know what's going on but they don't bother informing anyone.

I have been in several really nasty situations in the days when I was using trains every day. I have been groped when the lights went off while going through a tunnel.

I have got into a full carriage in order to be safe, but then everyone gradually got off and I was left alone with a guy who then began masturbating while staring at me. He had his legs stretched out and I would have had to climb over them to pull the emergency cord so I stayed put.

And this is just 2 of the incidents ....

I'm not sure women-only anything is a good idea unless there is a real and substantial threat. It's far too easy to go from providing a place for women to making sure women stay in that space.
I do think guards should be kept on trains.
I did when I was younger strike up quite a few acquaintances on trains. It was fun.
Now I prefer peace and quiet, proper Quiet Coaches would be good but quite how you enforce that without a guard i don't know.

I remember when I was about 16 I was on a late train with a friend (long story) and two men came and sat opposite us, almost knee to knee. We were scared but clueless, and a woman got in and sized up the situation straight away. She whispered to us to follow her and got off the train at the next station, then told us to run up the platform to another carriage before the men noticed. We would never have thought of doing that, and I am sure she saved us from what could have been a really nasty situation.