Hundreds of people lose their lives every year on train tracks due to trespassing and suicide, which are the two leading causes of rail-related death in the United States. FRA and the U.S. DOT Volpe Center recognize that suicide is preventable and have vital contributions to help prevent suicide.

We have conducted research and worked with stakeholders to make tremendous strides in improving railway safety. The largest safety improvements have been found at highway-rail grade crossings. FRA is exploring a variety of strategies to prevent trespassing, including, but not limited to, engineering, education, and enforcement efforts. In 2011, FRA began collecting rail suicide data and actively participating in suicide prevention research and implementation efforts in addition to non-suicide trespassing work.

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center supports FRA in conducting research related to rail trespassing and suicide and continues to build a program that prioritizes efforts to facilitate effective actions that will result in fewer railroad trespassing and suicide casualties.

If you would like to get involved or receive additional information, please contact Scott Gabree or Danielle Hiltunen.

Multifaceted Approach to Prevention

FRA and the U.S. DOT Volpe Center work with other researchers, railroads, state and local governments, and other stakeholders to understand how best to prevent rail trespassing and suicide. While research on the topic has grown over the past decade, the complexity of these issues requires significant and ongoing effort and collaboration. A particular challenge is that issues contributing to railroad trespassing and suicide risk are often local, requiring local perspectives and coordination to identify and implement effective solutions. Stakeholders may contribute resources or knowledge to prevention efforts, as well as take actions that will result in fewer train-person collisions.

FRA and Volpe seek to facilitate local action through their research efforts in the following ways.

• Stay current on best practices and research in railroad trespassing and suicide prevention.
• Collaborate with various stakeholders who may contribute resources or knowledge to prevention efforts and learn from those experiences.
• Develop and disseminate tools and resources and ensure that current research and good practices are available and easy to understand.
• Conduct research to evaluate strategies to prevent trespassing and suicide or mitigate the impacts of these events.

FRA is a leader in the transportation industry when it comes to suicide prevention research efforts. FRA recognizes that not only is suicide preventable, but a collaborative approach that involves railroad participation is important. The following describes how FRA, with the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, works to empower stakeholders to make informed decisions about how to address trespassing and suicide in their communities.

Facilitate action.

The Trespass & Suicide Prevention Toolkit (TSP Toolkit) aims to simplify the process of identifying strategies that can help prevent trespassing and suicide by providing summarized information about these strategies along with evidence of effectiveness and lessons learned. This resource is updated regularly as research is completed and more is known about how to address this complex issue.

FRA supports efforts to directly collaborate with railroad stakeholders and communities to facilitate and evaluate the implementation of different strategies to prevent railroad trespassing and suicide. As more information is gained from these collaborative efforts, the TSP Toolkit will be updated so these insights can be used by other stakeholders.

Gather and share best practices.

FRA and the U.S. DOT Volpe Center host and attend regular meetings to ensure that any new information about emerging practices is identified and shared with those in a position to implement them.

• The Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention (GRASP) working group has met annually since 2014 to provide international experts and stakeholders with a forum to share insights and learn from one another about rail suicide prevention strategies. The group continues to meet annually. More information about GRASP, including how to become involved, is available here: Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention (GRASP).
• Suicide Prevention for US Rail (SPUR) is a working group comprised of United States based railroad stakeholders looking to connect with one another and learn about how to approach railroad suicide prevention. SPUR meetings take place quarterly with each meeting focused on a specific railroad suicide prevention topic that aligns with the interests of US railroad stakeholders. More information about SPUR, including how to become involved, is available here: Suicide Prevention for US Rail (SPUR).

Additionally, FRA and the U.S. DOT Volpe Center coordinate regularly with other organizations and working groups that have perspectives that can contribute to this body of knowledge and ensure information about emerging best practices is identified and shared. This includes regular coordination with the Federal Working Group for Suicide Prevention, Operation Lifesaver Inc (OLI), and other relevant groups such as the DuPage Rail Safety Council. FRA-hosted trespassing prevention summits and research needs workshops also present great opportunities to both share and gather insights directly from stakeholders.

Data informed decision-making.

In July 2011, FRA started to mandate the collection of suicide casualty data as a part of their Part 225 safety reporting. Incident data collected by FRA is used to help make decisions about how to allocate resources to address the issues that are of greatest concern to the industry and the public. These data sets are also used to help monitor safety risks and countermeasure effectiveness in improving safety.

FRA, with the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, has published a variety of reports about trespassing and suicide data, including the complexities of collecting meaningful data, potential ways to improve cause of death determinations, as well as reports about using data to better understand individuals who die on the railway system. While more work is needed to improve the quality and utility of data related to railroad trespassing and suicide, these reports, among others, have helped to form a basis on which to build the current research program. All FRA reports, including additional research reports supported by the U.S. DOT Volpe Center team, can be found on the FRA's eLibrary or through the Repository & Open Science Access Portal (ROSA-P).

Resources

There are a variety of resources available from FRA which may be helpful for learning more about rail trespassing and suicide in the United States.

• Trespass & Suicide Prevention Toolkit
• Media Guidelines: Reporting on Rail-Related Incidents
• FRA Trespass and Suicide Dashboards
• FRA Safety Data

Other federal partners also have resources available to support the prevention of suicide.

• FTA Mental Health Resources for Transit Workers
• National Transit Database (NTD) Safety and Security Data

International partners provide additional resources for those interested in learning about trespassing and suicide prevention efforts around the world.

• Trespass & Suicide Prevention Network (TreSP Network)
• International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD)
• Trespass and Suicide Prevention Day of Awareness (TreSPAD)
• RESTRAIL Toolbox

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.