Northern urges people to report suspicious behaviour via app

The company revealed last year that its vehicles had been the target of almost 70 dangerous attacks with carriages struck by 42 bricks, stones and rocks.

They also said items such as shopping trollies, pushchairs and bikes had been deliberately left on the lines.

One driver was left with devastating injuries after his cab windscreen was hit by a brick while it was travelling at 70mph.

And last month Northern offered a £1,000 reward when its trains were targeted by a suspected air gun pellet attacker.

In March last year a log was thrown into the path of an oncoming train in Bolton which cause a small fire in which 100 people were evacuated.

The previous month a train driver was hit by a brick as they were heading to Clifton through Farnworth.

And now the train company’s chief operating officer Tricia Williams had said some of these incidents could have been avoided if suspicious behaviour had been reported.

The comments came at the British Transport Police relaunched the Railway Guardian app which allows people to report crimes and concerns and get support.

Ms Williams said: “While the are extremely rare, we’ve seen some horrendous incidents on the railway these past 12 months.

“With so many of them, the old maxim ‘someone must know something’ is what we need to focus on. These are senseless crimes that could have been avoided.

“We need to look out for one another and the Railway Guardian app helps get information about threats to the railway – or rail users – to the right people quickly and simply.”

The British Transport Police’s Railway Guardian App can be downloaded from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

British Transport Police’s "Railway Guardian" app is available to download from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Anyone with information about any crime on the railway can contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.

Alternatively, people can call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.