Transit guards are more likely to get physically assaulted, spat on or attacked with a weapon on the Armadale train line than any other in Perth.

New figures obtained exclusively by The West Australian reveal the true nature of assaults on transit guards, with one incident taking place every three days from July 2017 to October 2018.

The figures were separated into three categories — physical assaults, assaults involving spitting and assaults with weapons.

The Armadale line rated the highest collectively, with 45 incidents in total.

Mandurah was second (36) followed by Midland (29) and Joondalup (22).

Fremantle was the safest train line with only 15 recorded incidents over the time period.

Given Perth Station appears on all lines it was separated from the results for the purpose of this article, however it also rated highly with 40 reported violent incidents.

When it comes to the three individual categories, the Armadale and Mandurah lines recorded the equal highest number of physical assaults on transit guards with 30 apiece.

Perth station also ranked highly in the figures, with 29.

Armadale was the top train line for reported spitting incidents, followed by Midland.

While Armadale also took out first place for the number of incidents in which a transit officer was assaulted with a weapon.

The figures are also broken down to show that some stations are more prone to violence than others.

Joondalup (12), Rockingham (10) and Bull Creek (7) were the top three suburban stations for physical assaults. Perth was the highest with 29.

Midland (5), Queens Park (3) and Stirling (2) topped the list for suburban stations for spitting incidents. Again, Perth ranked top with 11.

And Armadale (4), Bayswater (3) and Welshpool (2) were the worst offenders when it came to train stations in which there were assaults involving weapons.

Transport Workers Union state secretary Tim Dawson said transit officers were doing a great job protecting the community’s best interests under difficult circumstances.

He said they deserved more support, more protection and more powers in their workplace “where spitting, violence and abuse is rampant”.

A spokeswoman for Public Transport Authority said there was an “array of safety and security initiatives” to help protect transit officers.

These included constantly-monitored CCTV and high-level lighting and emergency communications.

“Because we have so many more eyes on the network, they are spotting, intervening in and reporting more incidents,” she said.

“We believe this has also led to an increase in the number of assaults on our staff, as there are more of them out on our system working to protect passengers.”