The alleged 12 grubs of Christmas police want to speak to over serious train crimes

A crackdown on serious crimes on public transport has seen police release images of people they believe can shed light on offences including spitting on children, public masturbation and bashing a man on a walking frame.

An assault on an elderly man with a walking frame, masturbating in front of young women and spitting at children — these are the alleged crimes that have sparked a Christmas crackdown on Sydney’s train networks by police.

NSW Police have released the faces of 12 individuals they wish to speak to as part of their investigations into a variety of alleged serious offences that have occurred on trains across the city over the past six months.

Police will this weekend launch Operation Waratah 2 with hundreds of officers swarming train platforms and bus stations across the city.

The Daily Telegraph was this week offered an exclusive look inside the Railway Operations Centre (ROC) at Alexandria, where police will join Sydney Trains’ specialist security teams as they monitor 13,000 CCTV cameras for crimes in real time for Operation Waratah 2.

NSW Police Superintendent Andrew Evans said as crimes are being reported they can be watched from the Railway Operations Centre by the Sydney Trains security experts — who then instantly inform the police on the ground who can quickly respond and arrest offenders.

NSW Police Superintendent, Andrew Evans (left) and Sydney Trains Head of Security and Intelligence, Sean Godwin (right). Picture: Jane Dempster

“The collaboration between us and Sydney Trains is critical to ensuring a safe and crime free environment for commuters on the network,” Supt Evans, boss of the North West Police Transport Command, said.

“There is the expertise of the security investigation unit at Sydney Trains and their ability to identify crimes in real time and obviously we then have the ability to respond efficiently and quite quickly to those crimes.”

Sean Godkin spends his days in the “nerve centre” of the entire Sydney Trains operation.

It is there that everything from signalling to security is looked after, beneath a massive screen Z — larger in size than the one at NASA mission control — which provides live updates of every train on the rail network.

Trains that are on time are green, those that are slightly delayed are yellow and those that are severely delayed are red.

Mr Godkin said when crimes are reported on trains, be it via calls to Triple-zero, directly to trains staff or over a platform intercom, it will quickly flow back to the “ROC”.

People police want to speak to in regard to 12 offences on Sydney trains. Top row, from left: Person A, Person C, Person E and Person F. Second row, from left, Person H, Person I, Persons J and Person K. Botom row from left: Person L1, Person L2, Person M and Person N. Pictures: Supplied

“This is the nerve centre of our rail operations, so represented on the control room floor are all the different elements which control the running of trains,” Mr Godkin said.

“The support from the police is invaluable and their presence on the network is sensational, and they do support us significantly and I do see the impacts of the work police are doing – and it is very much appreciated by us.”

As part of Operation Waratah 2, NSW Police have released the faces of 12 individuals they believe can assist with their inquiries into train crimes.

Supt Evans said police were getting on the “front foot” to crackdown on anyone who thinks they can commit serious crimes on trains and buses, particularly as many of their victims are often “vulnerable” members of society

“I see the offenders in particular that utilise public transport to get around, they are targeting members of the public who are vulnerable, often elderly or young people, and sometimes people that are new arrivals to city,” he said.

“And as a result, by us getting on the front foot and actively targeting those people at their homes or in their streets, it doesn’t allow them to get on the transport network and harm someone.”

Inside the new Rail Operations Centre at Alexandria where they monitor the daily network – including delays, disruptions and surveillance using close circuit cameras to catch any criminal activity on the rail network. Jane Dempster/Daily Telegraph.