The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that while she was not hurt in the incident, she is “worried about the next person.”
The mugging took place at around 9.15pm last Tuesday night as the expat, who has lived in the area for over a decade, was returning home from work.
Her handbag was ripped from her by a hooded thief as she walked through a dark underpass when exiting the station.
“It’s ridiculous that there are no lights at a main train station at night. For many people, it’s the only way in and out of town and a lot of tourists pass through,” she explains, stressing: “To get on a train you have to go through the station.”
She claims that while lighting is poor at night in one of the station’s two entrances, it is non-existent in the other.
The woman further complained that the passages are wet and slippery, there is no surveillance or security and the infrastructure and its equipment have been vandalised.
On top of that she says the lifts are regularly broken; meaning disabled people often cannot use the stop.
“They spent €5 million of EU money on the station some years ago. When it opened it was beautiful but it has really gone downhill in recent times,” she criticises.
Praising police for dealing with the mugging “amazingly well” and catching her assailant shortly after, the concerned resident stressed: “What if it was an older person? I’m Ok, nothing happened to me, but I don’t want it to happen again.”
In response to questions put by The Portugal News, the Cascais PSP bureau confirmed the assailant had been promptly caught and detained by Estoril officers, and said no other similar incidents had been reported nor had complaints been lodged about the illumination.
However, in light of last week’s incident, the division said “efforts will be made to strengthen patrolling of the site, ensuring greater police visibility, and to make the Police Division for Public Transport Security and Cascais Council aware of [the matter] to adopt the measures considered appropriate.”
A spokesperson for railway infrastructure management company REFER told The Portugal News that any such incidents should always be reported to police, and that REFER would collaborate with the forces “whenever requested”.
The company said it has made “great efforts to ensure passenger safety at train stations, namely by investing in human surveillance and video surveillance in stations, and through close collaboration with police forces to find ways of deterring marginality.”
“It should be noted”, REFER’s statement elaborated, that “since the beginning of this month, the São Pedro do Estoril Station, including its underpasses - whose protection is the responsibility of Cascais Council - is equipped with a video surveillance system, which complements the presence of guards on a rotation system.”
It concluded, “With regards to the general conditions of the station, given that this is a recent infrastructure and despite the efforts made to ensure conditions of hygiene and cleanliness, unfortunately acts of vandalism and abuse are recurrent even though a specific commitment has been made there too, to safeguard and defend public well-being and which is at the public’s disposal.”
The Portugal News approached Cascais Town Hall for comment but none had been received by the time of going to press.