Officers at Train Stations to Help Passenger Safety

EXTRA support officers will be recruited to patrol North Wales train stations in a drive to improve safety and security.

Welsh transport minister Andrew Davies will today announce a pounds 600,000 scheme to boost the presence of officers across the Arriva Trains Wales network.

In all 21 police community safety officers will be deployed, including one each at Rhyl, Bangor and Shrewsbury covering north and mid Wales rail services.

The officers will patrol trains and station platforms to give reassurance to passengers.

The scheme is jointly funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, British Transport Police and Arriva Trains.

Mr Davies said the initiative was in addition to pounds 2m to install CCTV cameras on all Arriva Trains.

One camera would record incidents of trespass on the railway while the second would be focused inside the train, he said.

“We have already announced a pounds 1m security package for 11 North Wales rail stations and I am aware of the important Daily Post campaign and so we have improved safety on a lot of North Wales stations, including British Transport Police facilities.” he said.

The announcement will be made today at a new police station at Pontypridd station.