by Emma Biginelli Macchia, reporter

A police report revealed that the number of reports of sexual assaults against women in trains has increased by 16%.

British Transport Police recorded 2,472 sexual offences last year. The figures also show a 26% rise in violent crimes in general.

The EndViolenceAgainstWomenCoalition a leading coalition of specialist women’s support services, researchers, activists, survivors and NGOs working to end violence against women and girls. The EVAW Coalition said there are several reasons why the number of reports has increased, including the #MeToo movement.

The British Transport Police also launchedinitiatives toencouragevictims of sexual violence to report to the police, such as the Report It, Stop It campaign.

Rachel Kyrs, co-director of the Coalition, said that while there is no evidence showing a rise in sexual assaults, encouraging women to report was only a small part of the job that needs to be done.

She said another important job was to make sure the criminaljusticesystem could actually act and do something once the abuse or the assault had been reported. “The criminal justice system is not dealing with sexual violence very well at all, women who are reporting rape and sexual violence are getting a very poor service, particularly at the prosecution stage” she said. She also added it was wrong to let women think reporting sexual assaults was only their responsibility, when there was no efficient prosecution system to take care of them afterwards.

The co-director also said that there was a need of “massively”increasing the support available for girls and women once crimes are reported to the police. She added: “There is a massive waiting list for counseling services, talking therapies, and women are not getting access to this sort of services that are vital.”

According to Mr Kyrs, there is a lot of prevention work which needs to be done in order to ensure the safety of allwomen, such as making sure railwaysand public transportationare well lit, that there is staff available and around andthatCCTV officers are trainedtorecognise at first and eventually stop sexual abuse and harassment.

She concluded: “The levels of sexual harassment, sexual abuse and violence are still too high. Women have the right to go about their lives, including using trains during the day and the night without being at risk of sexual violence. At the moment we are not achieving that, so we have a problem.”