Rio de Janeiro to appoint "women only" trains

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Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - The Brazilian metropolis Rio de Janeiro is providing designated "women only" cars on city and regional trains in order to protect female passengers from sexual molestation, said Metro Rio press spokesman Joubert Flores on Sunday.

Marked with a pink stripe, the "special cars" are to appear Monday in line with a law approved on March 23 that allows for such cars between 6.00 to 9.00 am and between 5.00 and 8.00 pm.

Women in the city have increasingly complained that they are often groped by men in the packed trains.

As many as 49 per cent of the 500,000 people who use the city train system daily are women, Flores said. The regional train system transport another 400,000 people.

Flores however said most of male passengers knew how to behave themselves.

"They don't even throw paper on the floor," he said.

There will be no special policing of the new system, he added. The authorities are certain that "the women (passengers) will make certain that no men get on the cars."