Irish Rail are to increase security patrols for its trains following reports of drug use, racial abuse, indecent exposure, physical violence and drunken behaviour by train passengers last year.
In 2025, more than 1,150 complaints regarding anti social behaviour were sent to the text system, with passengers complaining of people in possession of knives while on the train, or drug users "shooting up" in carriages.
Complaints of this nature were reported from dozens of trains across the country.
Such incidents include one man being spotted smoking crack on a train in Sandycove, while a number of men were also spotted "openly snorting" drugs in a carriage. Elsewhere, two men were seen "shooting up" heroin on a train near Killester In May.
A man was also seen drinking whiskey and taking "white powder" on a train close to Bray.
Last August, a Russian man was reported by another passenger to Irish Rail after being seen drinking and exposing himself on a train near Killester. The incident was described as "very scary" by the passenger.
Other incidents include a drunk man being reported for talking to underage girls on a train near Bray, while two boys were also playing "explicit sexual content" on a train near Portmarnock.
Last year, more than 100 complaints were sent which directly involved alcohol, with other passengers left fearing for their safety, with one incident seeing two drunk men threatening to kill each other on a train from Dublin to Drogheda.
Other incidents have left passengers injured, with one person suffering a broken nose during a row on a train, with further incidents involving threats to kill, and a woman shouting abuse at "non-nationals" and threatening violence.
On the Galway to Dublin train train, there has been an increase in reports of young people inhaling laughing gas.
It was reported under freedom of information laws that Irish Rail were unable to respond to these rising number of reports as security teams were "unavailable" or "on break" at the time.
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Speaking about this issue, a spokesman for Irish Rail has said that company was in a position to respond "in the vast majority of cases", whether it be security teams, or staff on board or at stations.
“We have been supported by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to increase security patrols further in 2026,” he added.
“Security patrols and the text alert system are among a wide range of resources we have in place to both prevent and respond to incidents of antisocial behaviour, with the text alert offering customers a discreet means of reporting incidents".
“We also have proactive joint patrols regularly with gardaí, a series of rapid response hubs around the network with gardaí to enable onboard staff on Intercity services to liaise directly with customers, and specific event plans with gardaí and security".
“While the vast majority of over 55 million annual journeys on our network occur without incident, we are committed to ensuring we manage security and deploy resources to address what is a societal issue".
Elsewhere, Mark Gleeson, spokesperson for Rail Users Ireland has said that the situation regarding anti social behaviour has deteriorated hugely since the Covid pandemic.
“We're also seeing a significant increase in passenger numbers and public transport record numbers last year,” he said. “So, a lot more people out there, a lot more people are seeing things, a lot more people are reporting issues".
“But generally since COVID, things have gotten worse".
He continued: “We have this text alert system if you're in Dublin on the DART, 51444, followed by the word TRAIN, you can report an incident discreetly,” he said.
“That's been publicised, more people are using that and the issue, really at the moment is, has the number of incidents actually increased?".
“Or are we just getting a more accurate reporting of the actual number of incidents that actually have taken place?”.
Despite this, Mr Gleeson has insisted that the behavioural standards remain "absolutely shocking".
“I think the challenge we're facing here is we don't have a transport police,” he argued. “Irish Rail has, to its credit, significantly increased the number of security patrols out there".
“They've opened up a new security base in Dún Laoghaire, where they can task staff from quicker - which helps greatly in the cover on the south of the city", he added. “But there's very little of any security coverage outside of Dublin, particularly in Cork and Galway".
Mr Gleeson went on to add that security workers lack the authority to arrest any troublemakers, which is something many of these people are aware of.
He called on the Government to provide security staff with the power to arrest people who are participating in anti social behaviour on trains.
“I think ultimately it's on the Minister of Transport to address and move forward the public transport police that has been talked about for over a decade", he said.
Spokesperson Jane Cregan has said the number of complaints remain low in comparison with the 55 million passenger journeys Irish Rail last year.
