The threat of crime to England supporters — and of hooligans inflicting themselves on the locals during the World Cup finals — has brought about a massive increase in police resources in South Africa for next summer’s tournament.

Among the innovations are prison trains on which troublemakers could face summary justice. A special carriage, containing a mini-police station and holding cells, will be added to long-distance trains.

“We have a train that will transport the fans and we have a police station with a cell on the train,” Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the South African organising committee, said. “We will open the case against you and put you in jail on the train while you are travelling. It is the first time you have a train with a police station on, but my feeling is that we are not going to have problems with the England fans here.”

The rolling police stations are part of a huge security drive by the local force before a tournament that will attract an estimated 500,000 supporters.

The issue of whether visiting supporters have more to fear from muggings, or the locals from the threat of English hooligans, is regarded seriously enough on both sides that the South African police have trained an extra 31,000 officers for the tournament, with another 10,000 reservists.

Water cannons have been purchased and the French Gendarmerie were recruited to train local officers in crowd control, although it is expected that the distance and cost will significantly reduce the number of known troublemakers among the estimated 40,000 England fans.

“Saturation coverage,” is how Superintendent Vish Naidoo, the spokesman for the South African Police Service, describes the force’s approach to next summer. “We will see a very heavy presence of officers.”

Indeed, he is so confident of a peaceful tournament that he declared: “My only fear is that we do not have enough beer for the English fans.”

Aware of Johannesburg’s reputation for violent crime, the South Africans are devoting resources to making sure the perception is not heightened during the World Cup finals. An extra 40 helicopters and 100 high-performance BMWs have been bought, on top of the thousands of additional men on the ground. Naidoo is hoping that the high profile of the police will be a significant deterrent to crime.

For the tournament, there will also be more magistrates, judges and courts on duty. Two burglars who recently raided the hotel room of two Brazilian police officers on a pre-World Cup fact-finding mission discovered the new swiftness of the country’s justice system. “They were arrested, charged and jailed for five years within 24 hours,” Naidoo said.

In order that jails are not filled to bursting next summer, the police force have asked the politicians to waive local laws regarding prostitution, the gathering of crowds and drinking in public places for the month-long duration of the tournament.

“We want people to have a party,” Naidoo said. “We are not complacent, but we have done many big events now going back over the last 14 years. My advice to your fans is to not fear anything but to come and have a good time.” The perception that Johannesburg is unsafe for visitors can be strongly countered by the success of recent events, including the Lions rugby union tour and the Confederations Cup in football, according to Jordaan.

“If 50,000 Lions rugby supporters are safe and now your Barmy Army is here for the cricket, why the football fans would not be happy and safe I don’t know,” Jordaan said.

Given the precautions being taken and the awareness of most visitors to avoid dangerous areas, the biggest headache for England fans may not be the crime but, dependent on where their team are drawn to play, issues of transport and accommodation.

Scattering each team’s matches around the country from the group stage onwards will require supporters to travel long distances, with the added headache that a few of the venues — such as Rustenburg, Nelspruit and Polokwane — have so few hotel rooms that supporters will have to stay miles away from the stadiums.

The decision to move all the teams around for each game is a decision that neither Fifa, the world governing body of football, nor the local organisers, is keen to own up to.