Some trains in Japan have a car specially reserved for women to combat the problem.

Yup. I just returned from Tokyo, and the Marunouchi (sp?) Line has women-only cars, but only during the morning rush hour. Interestingly, many of the most crowded stations on this line have shoulder height solid barriers along the entire platform edge with automatic sliding doors that only open to allow access to the train doors once the train has stopped in the station. I guess this is to prevent people from being shoved onto the tracks during rush hour. The unfortunate thing is that this eliminates the ability to engage in the rewarding compulsive behavior of looking down the track to see if the train is coming!

One of the strange things I noticed in Japan is that a culture of such extreme courtesy and politeness completely discards that attitude when it comes to packing into subway cars and elevators. In the fancy department stores of the big cities, very nicely dressed young women in elegant uniforms and white gloves are positioned outside the elevators to help shove as many people into each elevator car as possible. Passengers just ram their way vigorously into the front of the elevator car, and they keep shoving until people in the very back of the car start to squeal, and then they stop and allow the doors to close.

There are several stories about police officers and MTA employees that are refusing to file complaints. If everyone who was sexually harassed or assaulted on the subway complained, I am sure that 587 would be surpassed in a few hours.