Transit agencies around the world are grappling with the same problem as Metro: how to prevent people from using trains to kill themselves.
Some European and Asian systems have even had more extensive problems. Nearly 2,000 people killed themselves in Japan in 2008 by jumping in front of trains, prompting frequent delays for commuters that are referred to as “human accidents” over public address systems.
Researchers are looking to those agencies overseas to see what lessons can be learned. But they may need to be tailored to American mind-sets and systems.
The best method for preventing suicides on train systems is to block all access to the tracks, said the American Association of Suicidology’s program development director, Karen M. Marshall. Some transit systems have fences along platforms with gates that open only when a stopped train’s doors line up with the gates.
“You literally cannot get in front of a train,” Marshall said. “It’s expensive but that’s literally the most effective thing you can do.”
Metro has 106 miles of tracks and 86 stations, making full barricades unlikely for the cash-strapped agency, which has 30-year-old rail cars, crumbling station platforms and bus garages that are more than 100 years old.
Still, Marshall said transit agencies didn’t have to put the barricades along the entire length of track. They could study the most likely entry points for suicidal riders. Barricades also can prevent accidental falls onto the tracks, which have happened at least twice — once fatally — on Metro this year.
But in lieu of such barricades, other agencies have tried various techniques:
» Tokyo: Some railways have placed blue lights in stations with the idea that the color will soothe passengers, but Marshall says no research exists showing whether the lights actually prevent suicides.
» Boston: The subway system known as the T has placed signs in stations telling people where they can go to get help, partnering with the suicide prevention group Samaritans.
» Toronto: After a spike in deaths several years ago, the Toronto Transit Commission trained operators to report riders acting strangely on station platforms and workers in stations who could intervene. They are taught to look for people who look agitated, who let several trains pass or who take off their coats.
