Virginia Railway Express has a slasher on the loose. As of Wednesday, 21 seats on the commuter train service had been slashed within a six-week period, VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said.
At first the agency didn’t realize it had a serial vandal. Crews fixed one seat, then another on the trains that connect Northern Virginia’s outer suburbs to downtown Washington. But it kept happening — usually in the same seat in the same evening trains on the Manassas line and always the same deep gash that ran some 15 inches long, he said.
The commuter train service sent out a message to its riders on Wednesday asking them to keep a lookout for whoever has been cutting up the seats.
“We felt we couldn’t keep waiting for a lucky break,” Roeber said. “The best avenue we have is our riders.”
Within hours, he said, the agency had received hundreds of messages from VRE passengers asking how they could help.
“This whole call-to-arms thing has worked,” he said. “That will help us in the end.”
The agency does have a lot of eyes on its side. The train service has had record ridership this year, with some cars standing-room only. But many of the vandalized seats have been found in the upper level that is often less crowded, especially as trains near the end of the line, he said.
Seat slashing is actually a common problem for transit agencies. Metro has added Kevlar, the material used in bullet-proofing, in its newest bus seats to guard against the problem.
But VRE hasn’t had any with serial slashers in the 10 years Roeber has been with the agency.
The vandal could face criminal charges for the damage, including vandalism, destruction of public property or even weapons charges depending on what the person is using.
The average cost to replace the seats is about $175 each including labor, Roeber said. The agency currently has replacement seats in stock so it’s been able to use those.
“I am uncertain what the current market price is, but I hope we don’t have to find that one out,” he said.
