Preventing Suicides on the U.S. Rail System through Intervention Training Programs

Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention Notes from December 2017

Notes from the Decenber 2017 meeting of the Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention. 

Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention Notes from August 6, 2018

Notes from the August 6, 2018 meeting of the Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention. 

GIS Mapping of Rail Trespass and Suicide

The Volpe Center is using GIS mapping to study where trespass and suicide incidents occur along railroad rights-of-way, which may help the Federal Railroad Administration and rail carriers understand why a particular incident occurred and implement potential countermeasures.

Demographic and Environmental Characteristics of Rail Suicides

For FRA, rail operators, and communities to reduce rail suicides, they need to comprehensively understand the characteristics of such incidents. The U.S. DOT Volpe Center analyzed FRA data to produce a baseline measure of rail trespassing and suicide incidents. This baseline is the...

Trespasser Intent Determination

Every year, there are approximately 270 to 325 fatalities reported by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that a state coroner or medical examiner determines to be a suicide. However, systems to determine whether a fatality is a suicide can vary by county. That nationwide inconsistency can...

A Safer Way to Access Freight Locomotives

With support from the U.S. DOT SBIR program and the Federal Railroad Administration, GS Engineering developed and tested a system that makes accessing freight locomotives easier and safer for railroad engineers and workers.

Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention

The Federal Railroad Administration worked with U.S. DOT's Volpe Center and the Association of American Railroads to convene a group of international experts who specialize in suicide prevention on the rail system. This group, known as the Global Railway Alliance for Suicide Prevention (...

Media Reporting of Railway Suicides

Research shows that media reporting of suicides can lead to copycat incidents if journalists do not follow guidelines for responsible reporting. The Federal Railroad Administration and the U.S. DOT Volpe Center are working on strategies to encourage responsible reporting of rail-...

Working with Carriers on Suicide Countermeasure Pilots

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has sponsored a research effort at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center to work directly with rail carriers to identify, implement, and evaluate appropriate suicide death mitigation strategies. One such evaluation is underway with...