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New York, NY - It is now 35 years since the release of "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three," a movie set in the New York City subway that summed up an era of urban malaise, when the transit network was plagued with violent crime and the cars were daubed with graffiti.

But although the subway today is in many ways transformed -- and crime is greatly reduced -- not all is quiet beneath the city streets.

A 40-year-old woman was robbed on a southbound A train in Manhattan on Sunday in the latest of a string of seven similar crimes, stretching back to January, in Manhattan and the Bronx.

The police say they believe the same man is behind the series of robberies.

The victim of the Sunday robbery was also the first to be physically harmed. She had boarded the train at 207th Street in Inwood around 3:50 p.m., and a man approached her and demanded her property, the authorities said. When she refused, the man struck her, before making off with her bank card at the Dyckman Street station.

The woman was cut on the left cheek and had a black eye, the authorities said.

Previous attacks following a similar pattern, on four women and two men, have taken place on the No. 1, B and D lines.

In each case, a man approached the victim and either showed a knife or simulated a gun before demanding bank cards and PIN numbers.

The police described the man being sought in the robberies as a black man in his early 20s, 6 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 2 inches tall, with medium build and black hair.

Despite this recent string of robberies, crime figures for the subway are much lower than in the bad old days of the 1970s.

In May, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said that crime in the city's transit system was down by 11 percent, due in part to the deployment of police officers during school dismissals and the evening rush, which are often the peak periods for criminal activity.