(The following story by Frank Graham appeared on the North Platte Bulletin website on July 16. John Tolman is Vice President & National Legislative Representative of the BLET.)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Union Pacific Railroad special investigators and deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office investigated a strange occurrence from Monday, July 14, that they believe might have been an aborted suicide attempt.
A UP engineer reported that a man and a woman were standing on the track in western Lincoln County as the train approached. The couple had their arms around each other, according to Chief Deputy Dean Sparks of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
The engineer blew the train’s horn to warn the couple of the approaching train and they jumped out of the way at the last minute.
Officials searched but were not able to locate the couple.
Sparks said officials feared the couple might have been contemplating suicide by train.
Every year people across the U.S. intentionally stand or jump and drive in front of trains, figuring it’s a sure way to end their lives.
John Tolman, spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, has said in the past the average train engineer will see three suicides during a 25-year career on the job. A commuter rail engineer could see as many as 20 during a career.
The result can be stressful on engineers who witness such incidents. Engineers and trainmen often experience post-traumatic stress disorder afterward.
Many people who attempt suicide by rail believe the train will kill them instantly but that is not always true.
Statistics show that in Germany, whose high-speed rail network has the most frequent suicide problem of any other railway in the world; about 10 percent of those who attempt to kill themselves survive.
On the Montreal subway, about two-thirds of those who jump on the tracks survive, according to records.
The people who survive are often extremely handicapped and those who do die don’t necessarily die painlessly nor immediately.
Gathering U.S. data about the number nationally is particularly difficult since it would have to be gleaned from thousands of local coroners’ offices. Some suicide cases may be classified as accidental deaths.
More than half of suicides in the United States are carried out using guns, and suffocation and poisoning rank second and third. The category of “all other causes,” which would include stepping into the path of an oncoming train, accounts for fewer than 10 percent of the deaths. Some researchers believe that the number may be as small as 200 or 300 cases a year, out of more than 30,000 suicides.