2,000 thugs who went off the rails

Crime soars across the network

- SEAN MURPHY

FRESH calls have been made for a dedicated Garda unit for Ireland's rail system as crime soars on the network, a report shows.

It came as Irish Rail revealed it was hit with more than 2,000 cases of anti-social behaviour last year.

A rail trade union spokesman last night fumed: "The problems won't go away until people realise that there are going to be court appearances."

The semi-State Iarnrod Eireann yesterday detailed the woes in a report showing a rise of anti-social behaviour.

These include smoking; alcohol and drug misuse, aggressive behaviour, criminal damage, assaults, theft of passengers' property and lewd behaviour.