When a woman put herself in the path of a Red Line train at the Brookland station Friday evening, she became the latest statistic in a growing problem for Metro.

The woman was at the least the ninth person to kill herself using a Metro train this year. The alarming suicide toll includes a 15-year-old boy, a Metro employee and a 57-year-old man who jumped in front of a train just a week ago. The transit agency reported just two cases each in 2007 and 2008.