Chile considers women-only subway cars to avoid sexual assault

Women ride on a women-only car of the Hanzomon Line of the Tokyo Metro at Omotesando Station in Tokyo on May 9. Nine railways in the Tokyo metropolitan area and subways operated by the Tokyo Metro introduced women-only cars during the morning rush-hour period to prevent sexual assault. [Photo/VCG]

SANTIAGO - Chilean deputy Gabriel Silber called on Sunday for women-only subway cars to be implemented in the Santiago subway at rush hours to avoid instances of sexual assault.

"This is an important problem that women suffer daily in the greater Santiago when they move by metro. We have one of the metros with the highest levels of frequency in the world during peak hours, we reach about six passengers per square meter," said Silber.

The Santiago metro is the second-largest in Latin America with a network of around 103 kilometers, with another 25 kilometers currently under construction, and is the seventh most frequented in the world.

The amount of people on the metro at peak hours since 2007 after a reform that led to more people using the subway has led to a sharp rise in the number of sexual assault accusations.

The left-wing deputy pointed to "big cities such as Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro or Mexico city..." have implemented strong campaigns and measures destined to prevent, avoid and punish sexual assault inside the subway."

"I am referring to measures such as the segregation of carriages at peak hours, some of them are pink for example, the installation of security cameras inside the carriages and police officers travelling incognito inside the cars," he explained.

According to Silber, "the Santiago subway is behind in terms of public policies that seek to prevent sexual assault inside public transportation."