That life would be so simple. The double doors (ie on both train and platform, turning it into something like an elevator) require such precision in stopping that they are only possible on fully automatic railways. Even then they add a little amount to the time a train takes to make the stop so accurately, about 5-10 seconds per stop. On a subway line with say 30 stops end to end and trains every 2 minutes that means up to 5 extra trains will be required just to maintain the service. And it does nothing about what happens on open railways.

Such is the incidence on the London Underground that some train drivers have had it happen to them more than once.

About twenty years ago, while travelling around Europe with a Eurail pass, I was on an intercity train from Munich to Nuremberg and someone jumped in front of the train. The train stopped quickly with quite a jolt. We were in a first class compartment (too old for the youth pass) and could not understand the announcements. The other occupants acted quite disgusted with the delay as we sat for about twenty minutes. We heard ambulance or police sirens. Only a few minutes after the authorities arrived, our train started moving. We looked out the window and saw a body covered with a sheet or blanket; there was no movement visible under the covers. The authorities seemed to be in no big rush so we assumed the person was deceased.

We were a little shaken up but most people on the train seemed peeved about the delay. Really a sad situation.

On an earlier trip to Europe, an older woman (looked a bit like a street person) attempted to jump in front of a moving tram in Den Hague. She was pushed out of the way and was not injured, but we were certainly scared.

I've been back to Europe over fifty times since those early days and have had no more experiences like those.

I've not been on a train where it's happened, although about two years ago somebody that got in the way of the commuter rail train in front of mine (not sure if it a suicide or an accident). The delay was "at least two hours" so I didn't bother waiting but took a different line and found a family member sufficiently bored to come get me and drive me the ten miles home from the station nearest to their home.

While driving, my father had somebody run in front of him at about 4:30am. My father swerved and missed him, and found a gas station about two miles away to call the police. He drove back to the scene and unfortunately the person had succeeded in his mission and the police had just arrived. The guy that hit him was SO happy to see my father, because it made the case an open-and-shut suicide.

True, but in many places there are benefits too. The MTR in Hong Kong is currently going through the process of having glass walls on all the underground platforms. The financial justification for this is based on only having to air-condition the stations and not the tunnels as well. The reduction in "jumpers" is just a fortunate side-effect.

The trains aren't fully automatic either - the drivers are just very good at hitting the stop point (and the platform doors are wide enough that they have an acceptable margin of error of �18 inches or so anyway). Very occasionally they have to do an extra little "nudge" forward or backwards after stopping.