ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WUSA) -- Virginia Railway Express has a new passenger on board dubbed “The Seat Slasher.”

VRE Spokesman Mark Roeber says 21 commuter train seats have been slashed open in the past six weeks, costing over $3,600 in damage.

“It’s tax payers who have paid for this and we put a lot of pride in our service,” Roeber told 9NewsNow. “We want it to stop.”

Crews noticed the vandalism taking place during the evening, in the exact same seat on the Manassas line. Each deep gash reaches up to 15 inches long, forcing crews to replace entire seats.

On Wednesday, the VRE sent out a “Train Talk” message to 16,000 riders, asking them to keep their eyes open for any suspicious behavior.  

“We figure the best way to have an extra set of eyes and ears is to ask the passengers to pay attention to people and what they’re doing on the ride,” Roeber said.

For avid traveler Michelle Slavain, she says the vandalism has commuters worried.

Manassas City Police Department:

The Manassas City Police are investigating two separate vandalism incidents that occurred throughout the weekend.

The first incident occurred between 1:00 a.m. and 11:15 p.m. on July 17, 2011, in the 8800 block of Portner Avenue. The victim had her vehicle parked on Portner Avenue when someone broke the driver’s side rear window.

The second incident occurred between 11:00 p.m. on July 16, 2011 and 4:30 p.m. on July 17, 2011. The victim stated that he returned home and discovered that someone had broken his driver’s side window.