SS02 - Suicide Risk Factors in Railway Stations and Beyond

Evaluation of Three Scalable Suicide Prevention Measures in Station Areas
August, 29 | 08:30 - 10:00

Introduction In Sweden, approximately 85 suicides occur annually in Swedish rail-bound traffic.1 Various measures can be used to prevent these events. Fencing the line and adding several protective barriers in platform areas for a large part of the rail network is one way to gain high systemic effects. The Swedish Transport Administration and the public transporter in Stockholm have implemented several scalable measures in platform areas as part of pilot studies. Three of these will be presented more thoroughly. "Mid-track fences" that separate easy access to fast trains passing through stations,2 "Platform-end lengthwise fences" that reduce motivation for trespassing onto the tracks from platform ends,3 and “Enhanced security information” used to communicate where to stand safe at the platforms will be described and presented. Method Three natural experiments evaluate the effect of each measure. Each measure is measured before and after intervention and compared to matched controls. The outcome for "Mid-track fences" is the number of suicides; the outcome for "Platform-end lengthwise fences" is the number of trespassers, the number of struck by train accidents and train traffic delays; the outcome for “Enhanced security information” is the number of passengers standing at the area closest to the tracks. Results, discussion, conclusion Updated results, future projects, and studies will be presented and discussed at the conference.

Speakers