Two commit suicide on Metro rails
By: Kytja Weir
June 16, 2009
Two people used Metro trains to kill themselves in as many days over the weekend, prompting delays across the system.
The weekend deaths
A man killed himself by moving into the path of a train at the Potomac Avenue rail station in Southeast D.C. about 11:45 a.m. Saturday. He was taken to a hospital where he later died of his injuries.
The man was not carrying identification, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said, so authorities were not initially able to identify him.
Just more than 24 hours later, Gweno Ladisch, 33, a woman with a French passport who was living in Chevy Chase, Md., put herself in the path of an eight-car train headed toward Glenmont at the Bethesda Metro station, according to the agency.
In both cases, the deaths delayed train service. On Sunday, Metro had to close the Bethesda station, running shuttle buses for riders and trains on a single track around the scene. It took about four hours for the system to return to normal train service, according to the agency.
– Kytja Weir
Metro suicides and attempts
2007: 6 attempts, 2 of them fatal
2008: 5 attempts, 2 of them fatal
2009 as of Monday: 4 attempts,
3 of them fatal
Source: Metro
The deaths appear unrelated, according to the transit agency, but they both appear to have been intentional. They add to the growing tally of people committing suicide via the transit system, with a total of 15 people trying to kill themselves in the system since 2007. Seven of those cases ended in deaths.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the survivors,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.
But the suicides affect more than just the person’s family, according to the transit agency. “The second unknown victim is usually the train operator,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.
The deaths also can affect the riders on the trains, people waiting on the platform and the agency's employees who must handle the aftermath.
The agency offers counseling assistance to all Metro employees who deal with the deaths, from the transit police who respond to the scene to the crews who clean up the tracks.
The transit agency is wary about discussing the deaths. “We’re trying to be sensitive to the surviving family members,” Farbstein said.
Agency officials are also concerned about copycat attempts as word circulates about the suicides. “The more these are reported, the more people do it,” Taubenkibel said.
It is not clear whether Sunday’s suicide came in response to Saturday’s death. Two deaths occurring back to back is unusual, Metro officials said. In March, two people also died within two days after being hit by trains, but the second case was determined to have been an accident.
The Metro system has begun a renewed emphasis on safety since General Manager John Catoe joined the agency in 2007, shortly after a spate of deaths of Metro workers on the rail lines. But the transit agency has said there is little it can do to stop suicides if people are determined to use the transit system to end their lives.
Other subways and train companies also have grappled with the problem, prompting public health experts to study the deaths and their effect.
Occasionally, Metro staff have been able to intervene. On Christmas Eve, a Metro station manager persuaded a man on the tracks of the Silver Spring Metrorail station to climb back onto the platform.
