CHICAGO — Chicago police are looking for two men who robbed and punched a man at the Addison Red Line station Monday night.

Police said a 64-year-old man was at the train station around 8:45 p.m. when he was approached by two men who demanded his personal property.

One of the men punched the 64-year-old in the face causing him to fall and hit his head on the wall.

The man suffered minor bruising and a laceration to the head and was transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition.

No one has been taken into custody. The incident is under investigation.

The attack comes as CTA recently started using more than 200 unarmed guards across the train system.

In a separate incident, police are looking for a man who allegedly robbed a 44-year-old man with a knife Monday morning at the Belmont CTA station.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has called for the CTA to improve security for employees and passengers after seeing that violent crime has increased by 17% on the transportation system over the last year.

The CTA issued the following statement.

“The safety and security of public transit riders is the No. 1 priority for both the CTA and the Chicago Police Department, which provides law enforcement for CTA. That commitment has never wavered.

The Chicago Police Department provides law enforcement for the CTA, primarily though the Public Transportation Section, a unit of officers dedicated solely to CTA buses and trains. CTA supplements those efforts with unarmed security guards and our extensive security-camera network, which now boasts more than 33,000 cameras.

Each day, CTA’s Security Department works in close coordination with CPD, using both historical and real-time information in directing patrols and resources to address the issue of crime on and near our system. Reducing incidents of crime on the CTA requires a multi-pronged approach that includes the deployment of CPD officers who patrol the system 24/7.

The CTA is a safe system when compared to overall ridership. Currently, we carry roughly 800,000 passengers a day – more than the entire population of Denver – and nearly 4.5 million people each week, and incidents of crime are very low. In fact, crime on CTA is only a small fraction of overall crime citywide. The overwhelming majority of rides on CTA are without incident and safe.

That said, one crime is one too many, and the CTA recognizes that a recent uptick in crime across the city – including on and near the CTA – requires a stepped-up approach. Crime is not isolated to CTA nor is it unique to us: It is a broader issue affecting cities across the nation as well as every major transit system in the United States.

That’s why both CPD and CTA have increased resources related to crime prevention. In March, Chicago Police and CTA along with Mayor Lightfoot and CPD announced significant crime-prevention resources: more-strategic deployment of CPD officers and a doubling of the unarmed CTA security guards. This increased presence, along with customer-service assistants at every rail station, represent a large, wide-reaching team acutely focused on customer comfort and safety. More details on the City’s announcement can be found here.

CTA currently has contracts with Monterrey, Garda and Digby’s for unarmed security guard services across the rail system and other properties. These contracts were awarded based on qualifications as well as overall cost.

The unarmed guards are a complement to CPD officers, an added presence across the system. They are tasked with educating and informing riders of CTA’s Code of Conduct policy, are trained in de-escalation techniques and are an added layer of trained eyes/ears out on the system for reporting incidents to police.

CTA is deploying its security guards on a regular basis, working toward our total of about 300 guards systemwide each day. Currently, we’re at about 200-220 each day; the remaining guards will be deployed as quick as possible (after they receive their full training, including de-escalation and conflict resolution). Security guards are working seven days a week (up from the previous five days a week).

CPD and CTA continually remain focused on and committed to making Chicago’s public transportation system even safer.“