On the way up to Philadelphia, our Amtrak train stopped several hours and there were no announcements. Soon, new people came into our car and sat down in the empty seats. It turns out that the train in front of us struck and killed someone on the track and the police and coroner had to come and everyone leave the train and get onto ours.

Has this ever happened on your train? It was a first for me. If it did happen, did they tell you what was going on?

Sadly, yes, this happened to me once on a Scotrail train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Nobody said what was going on, but the sudden stop, followed by the driver rushing through the train towards the toilet, made it pretty obvious. We were sat there for about 2 hours before we moved to the next station, and had to change trains.

The sad thing, for me, is that this journey was following a phonecall to say that my Grandmother was critically ill, so I was headed up to Scotland as quickly as possible. I jumped on the first train North, instead of the later direct one. If I'd waited, I'd have got there in time. Sadly, I didn't. Not a good day.

Not by hitting someone. A couple of years ago, was returning from a trip to Sacramento on the Coast Starlight. When we arrived in LA, I exited and hopped on the waiting Surfliner on the next track. After a couple of minutes I see LAPD arriving on a cart and jumping onto the Starlight consist (the car was in front of the one I had just exited). A few minutes after that, a couple of paramedics come running with a stretcher and their gear. About 15 minutes later, they all exit with a huge male strapped on the stretcher, giving him chest compressions.

When I worked for BART we had people jump in front of trains a couple times a year. As far as I know everyone jumped (versus being pushed by someone). Some actually survived by landing between the running rails, but that was clearly the exception.

Medical emergencies on board trains were daily occurences. You arranged paramedics to meet with the train at the next station they were due into. When firefighters responded, they would barricade the train doors in the open position to avoid being taken for a ride to a different station. As long as the doors were open, the train wasn't going anywhere. The train controllers were not happy when this happened, as it would back up trains behind the train with the victim on board.

Not too many months ago someone had a heart attack on a commuter train in Boston. Due to various miscommunications, the train continued on, making its normal stops, until it got to the place where doctors were to arrive and take the person, and it was said that this added delay resulted in the person's death.

On the other hand, if a train misses stops, the railroad or transit company owes passengers wanting to get off at those stops a free return trip.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Knew someone who jumped in front of a boston bound train recently. Horrible way to go. Sounds like it happens more than you would think.

cejkwj

This does happen on a routine basis, sadly. Both my sister and I have been delayed on Amtrak NE Corridor trains in the last 8 years for the same reason. I remember reading an article several years ago in the NY Times about counseling programs for train engineers, who will almost certainly encounter suicides or fatal accidents (which they are almost always powerless to stop) literally in front of their eyes at some point in their careers. It must be absolutely dreadful.

Yes, same situtation as yours, Amtrak in the DC to NY run, somebody stepped in front of the train.

There is a stretch of track near my office that seems to be a popular, um, jumping-off point. Twice in the last year I've had to wait while they cleared the body. To their credit, the RENFE people seem to have it down to a science. My last delay was about 20 minutes.

Indeed, this does happen a lot on the London Underground, for example. You see the euphemism 'delays due to passenger action' a lot. The deep-level underground stations do have pits under between the (train running) rails, though, dubbed 'suicide pits', which apparently save a fair few accidents.

For subways, depending on the model of the train, there is also quite a lot of risk of injuries to the conductor.

However, if the operators would put double doors (like on the meteor line in Paris) it would make it much much harder for someone to kill themselves by jumping in front of a train.

This happens a few times a year on Caltrain (San Jose, CA to SF, CA). And of course it is a VERY regular occurrence in Tokyo where I am right now -- so regular, in fact, that the railroad companies bill the families for the delay costs in an attempt to prevent it. The hypothesis is that in Japan, where families are very important, no one would want to put their family deeply in debt as part of a suicide. The hypothesis has been proven wrong many, many times, almost on a daily basis.

It's always quite fun to listen in to people's mobile phone conversations whn you're on a train delayed due to this.

First thing that happens is the train stops. Tends to sit there for maybe ten or fifteen minutes before the guard gets on the PA: "Due to a passenger in front of a train at Clapham Junction (or whereever), we'll be delayed while the line is cleared".

This cues the first lot of mobile phone calls, if it's on the way home "I'm on the train, will be a bit late, someone's jumped in front of the train" or something like that.

After about another half an hour, most people tend to send a text or something like that.

If the train still hasn't moved after an hour, the phone conversations are a little more like this, "Some stpuid bugger's just gone and kiled themselves by jumping in front of the train in front" or "we're still waiting for them to scrape that twat off the train in front - bloody thoughtless of them to do it in the rush hour!" and variations on that.

My mum actually saw someone jump in front of a victoria line train at King's Cross about 30 years ago. Still scares her.

In the CHICAGO TRIBUNE Sunday Magazine, I think it was, there was an article a few weeks ago on this very topic. They focussed on deaths on the METRA lines (commuter). Interviewed families, conductors, engineers, etc. These events appear to affect train employees profoundly.

The engineers made it a point to stress how often the suicide will stare up into their eyes at the last moment.

I think it happens A LOT, all over the world.

Actually, the railroad companies don't bill the families for the delay, but they don't dispute the rumor because it just might mean less people doing it.

Still, if you're going to kill yourself in an obnoxious way (imagine the poor guy cleaning up your mess), at least jumping in front of a train is fairly unlikely to hurt anybody. The other Japanese pastime of jumping off buildings, on the other hand, is all too likely to kill somebody else too... there was a case where some guy landed on two secretaries, killing them both but surviving himself. He did get quadriplegia though, so I hope he had a long and painful life.