By Bill Heaney
That figure rises to three quarters when passengers were asked about the trains which come from Glasgow and terminate at Helensburgh and Balloch.
According to 1919 Magazine, produced by the Scottish Police Federation, the results of a survey, have found that just 50 per cent of passengers travelling through Dumbarton felt secure.
Dumbarton is serviced by two lines, both of which run through Glasgow. One line to Glasgow Queen Street connects the town with the north of Glasgow and goes onto into the Highlands, reaching Oban and Mallaig.
The Oban train from Glasgow is said to be “a nightmare” to travel on after football matches on a Saturday evening.
Trains from Dumbarton run on two low-level lines through both Glasgow Central and Queen Street which run to Lanarkshire and Edinburgh respectively.
In Edinburgh, the figure of passengers who felt safe rose to 80%. According to 1919 magazine, travellers thought anti-social behaviour and football-related disorder were their biggest fears on the network.
Critics have said law-abiding are being penalised by the actions of those hooligans and drunks who cause trouble.
Nearly 60% of staff said they were not confident in the British Transport Police but three-quarters of passengers felt more secure knowing they were there.
It appears the Scotrail reaction has been to suggest redundancies and closures for ticket offices, leaving no staff to at least give the assurance of security in gloomy stations after dark.
A spokesperson for the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union said it was “totally unacceptable situation that a majority of rail staff in Scotland do not feel safe on the railway”.
They added: “Physical and verbal attacks or harassment of railway staff are far too high and we push for the maximum legal penalties for perpetrators.”
David Lister, ScotRail’s sustainability and asset director, said it was “absolutely committed to tackling anti-social behaviour on Scotland’s railways and delivering a safe railway for our customers and our own people”.
He encouraged travellers to report any problems to BTP.
A BTP spokesperson said: “The safety of railway staff simply doing their job is of the utmost importance to us, and we take assaults and abuse of rail staff extremely seriously and it will not be tolerated on the network under any circumstances.
“Following the rail staff survey, we have developed an action plan which will see increases in high-visibility patrols such as on-train patrols to tackle anti-social behaviour, at locations identified as anti-social behaviour hot spots, alongside increased visibility during major events.”
The spokesperson said nothing about leaving stations without staff present in ticket offices.