Anybody been affected by train rage?

from my experience of passengers having rage or getting angry on trains its usually a build up of things say they got up late, got stuck in traffic, could not a find a place to park, they missed their train and the next one is late and by the time they board, one little things and they kick off.

The problem is they think they have the right just because your front-line staff, which does annoy me, but if with all the things that have gone wrong they have not had anyone to vent frustrations on then its usually on the first person they come in contact with

on the whole you have to look at it as they not having a go a you personally just the situation

Some years ago the commuter trains from Leeds station were permanently chaotic and people started getting VERY fed up. Not just because the trains weren't running properly but because we were fed all sorts of misinformation (or no information at all). One night we were all turned off a train on the grounds that we needed to move to a different platform and then the original train moved off empty and we had to wait another hour for the next train! I felt pretty murderous then and I later heard that one passenger had been arrested for hitting a guard - I could quite understand why.

There was another incident where a train stopped half way along its route and the passengers all climbed onto the track as a protest.

Fortunately things are a little better now, although the trains still have their moments!

You betcha!

I've been on the receiving end of motorists rage on many occasions.

Usually it is harmless retribution, most commonly being “saluted” as number one via the hand signal wherein the middle digit is extended, whilst showing the recipient the back of the hand.

I do know of one instance where a co-worker was on a train that had lost the air and had a crossing blocked near a couple of lumber mills at shift change time. The locals, when working in this area during switching operations, sometimes had the crossings blocked for extended periods of time, but within the law. In California, 10 minutes is the maximum, unless of course the train is disabled and cannot move, as in this instance. This was the case as this was a road train, not local freight.

To make a long story shorter, when finally shoving back to the train after setting out a car with a broken brake pipe, when the engine crossed the crossing, an idiot opened fire on the engineer with a .357 handgun of some sort. He was uninjured and the frustrated one was charged and convicted of attempted murder. Winter time had the engineer running with windows closed and the use of the radio kept his head inside or he would have been killed.

So, yeah. “Rail Rage” is certainly out there, but instances such as these are probably a sub-category of road rage.

But, I won’t tell anybody if you don’t...

I have many more instances I can cite, so you can contact me through the profile page here if you wish.

By the way. An interesting topic for your paper, and that should garner extra credit in and of itself.

Although I have PT so i cant really complain, I always get frustrated by delayed trains. which at my local station is every service i've ever caught there. they are always at least 5 mins late and have horrible rattly rubbish carriages.

A few months ago when I was at London Euston, there had been two fatalities, one at Carstairs and near London, and there was a broken down freight train at Tring so the trains were running ages late. Therefore no trains were going north as no trains were coming south for them to be able to go north (does that make sense?). There were thousands of people all over the show and no one had any idea what was going on. They kept changing which platforms the train was going off (about 90 mins late) and i was getting so irritated. train rage aha.

more detail - ask

Yeh. I got shunted into a siding!!!!! Seriously, once, when i was in the Navy, a couple of us were so annoyed at some plonkers annoying a couple of young school kids we gave them a thumping and got them thrown off the train by the transport police complete with black eyes and bloody noses. Couldn't do it now because of soft PC brigade.

ummmm yep

I have said the wrong thing to a dispatcher and got myself put into a siding more than I should have.

I learned my lesson, it's yes Maam no sir for me now.

I have never tried ramming another train or running one off the road though.

Sorry i can't help you because i have never been on a train.