THE region's busiest train company is grappling with an alarming rise in assaults on its staff.

Arriva Trains Northern has seen physical assaults on staff increase by more than 58 per cent in the past six months.

Reports of verbal abuse have also shot up by 35 per cent year on year, The Northern Echo has learnt.

Bosses say some incidents have been so bad that workers have been left with broken limbs.

Arriva says it is working closely with police in a bid to tackle the problem and also looking at increased security measures for staff.

Conductors and platform staff are also being sent on anger avoidance courses in a bid to manage and control irate passengers.

Dyan Crowther, commerical director, said that 38 assaults on staff had been reported in the three months to June and there had been a "significant increase" in the problem.

She said: "We are looking into this to see if there is a specific route that is causing a problem or perhaps somewhere there is a lot of overcrowding, which can sometimes cause stress.

"We have action plans in place to try to remedy the number of assaults taking place and it may be that increased awareness due to our reporting regime on this is contributing to the increase.

"But at the moment we have no real answer. We are working closely with the police who, on the whole, are very responsive about this kind of thing."

A spokeswoman for Arriva Trains Northern said: "This is a problem but we have to put into it context in that we transport about 100,000 people every day across the North of England."

The Rail Maritime and Transport Workers union said that employers had to do more to protect staff.

A spokesman said: "Our members are often the target when things go wrong and we need employers to take this more seriously.

"Things like having fewer staff working alone late at night in isolated stations and booking offices would help."

Earlier this year, a report by the Rail Safety and Standards board revealed a 24 per cent increase in assaults on staff nationwide in 2002/3.