The staffed train carriages are a better choice than the violence and hard concrete of city streets according to Margot (not her real name) who found herself alternating between the Newcastle and Kiama lines for a few stolen hours of respite each night.

‘‘I studied the timetable and figured if I caught the last train to Newcastle I could get a couple of hours of sleep because it would stop for a while before turning back around,’’ she said.

The qualified teacher found herself with no other option after the elderly man she had dedicated her time to care for was placed into a facility.

She was living in public housing accommodation in his name which was revoked when he was moved into a nursing home.

After being forced out of her sister’s home one evening in a violent domestic dispute, Margot only had minutes to prepare herself for a life on the streets.

‘‘I had five minutes to pack a bag, all I had was some undies, some spare clothes and not much else,’’ she said.

She quickly became an expert on train timetables and essential survival techniques. 

‘‘There were bathrooms at Central Station where I could have a wash. I chose quiet spots in carriages but never carriages where I was alone, it’s not safe,’’ she said.

Margot knows of violent incidents from others in the growing community of those who have turned to public transport for shelter.

‘‘An elderly woman was punched in the face and had her bag stolen,’’ she said. ‘‘Anyone can get on a train so I always have my mobile in my hand, just in case.’’

Margot said the quality of sleep achieved while riding the rails was poor.

‘‘You doze, you can never sleep, not with one eye open,’’ she said.

Margot is grateful for the compassion of train staff who let her rest undisturbed. 

A Sydney Trains staff member said the number of homeless people now sleeping on the South Coast line was the worst he had seen. 

‘‘They catch the last train out of Sydney where they go to Kiama where it breaks for an hour and then they come back, it gives them about six hours of sleep,’’ he said.

‘‘Over the last 15 or so years there’s been a steady increase, it’s the worse I’ve ever seen and it’s not just older men any more, it’s young people and couples too now.’’

The staff member said as long as people had a valid ticket they were doing nothing illegal and generally minimal complaints were made to staff about the homeless community. 

Wollongong Homeless Hub manager Julie Mitchell said up to 20 clients had been forced to sleep on trains, with numbers steadily rising in a growing epidemic of hidden homelessness. 

‘‘We see people coming off the train in the morning into the breakfast program and we’re getting busier and busier,’’ Ms Mitchell said.

‘‘People are shocked when we tell them the numbers from the last census we did because they think if they don’t see people sleeping rough then we don’t have a homeless problem.’’