The National Bus and Railway Union says that some of its members are afraid to go to work on the Cork to Dublin train.
On Friday the 4PM train out of Hueston was stopped at Portlaoise due to anti-social behaviour.
In 2013 there was approximately 280 antisocial behaviour incidents on Irish Rail services which has increased year on year with 2300 incidents in 2020 - year when capacity was at 25% for most of year.
Speaking on the Neil Prendeville show on RedFM this this morning NBRU Chairman Dermot O'Leary said the rise in incidents on the Cork train is worrying for the unions members.
"People will know the people the people that travel regular, and they know the people to avoid, they know the hotspots. I can name them - they're Portlaoise, they're Thurles, they're Limerick Junction.
"There's people getting on and off, you've mentioned drug mules and all that, and that's serious crime, and in fairness to the Gardai they've had a lot of success over the last 12 months.
"What concerns us really is the aggressive behaviour. It was reported in the Echo a f ew weeks back that there were 40 incidents in Cork alone this year, on Cork trains including in and around Kent Station.
"We've been campaigning for a number of years for a dedicated Garda public transport division. We believe that some of the lower level crime would reduce."
