Notes from Underground: Blood on the Tracks

An interesting article by a London Underground worker.  He discusses how they handle suicides and some of the effects (or lack thereof) on the workers.  Not an overly gory article, but it is an interesting read.

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/start.asp?P_Article=12928

that was really good actually

i'm amazed at the once a week figure!   

Interesting article.
But I have reservations about the veracity.
With the bad press public transport already gets I would have expected this to have got at least SOME media coverage if for no other reason than the disruption to travel and transport reported on the RDS.

And 

At one east London station, a man was seen placing an envelope under a stone on the platform

There are no stones on London Underground platforms.

Is it beyond the realm of belief that the man may have brought his own 'paper weight'?  As most Tube travellers will know, it does get a bit gusty down there at times.

We are a major supplier to London Underground or as it now is Tube Lines.
I will ask them directly.
There are still no stones on the platforms.

There are no stones on London Underground platforms.

Perhaps the man had enough forethought to have brought the stone or perhaps, just that day there happened to be a stone.  Can one ever say there could not be a stone present, even perhaps if one has not  seen a stone in their personal journey.

Perhaps the man had enough forethought to have brought the stone or perhaps, just that day there happened to be a stone.  Can one ever say there could not be a stone present, even perhaps if one has not  seen a stone in their personal journey.

True and logical. Can't rule out any of those possibilities.

Sadly, I think the ariticle's pretty accurate; it's certainly "in line" with the sort of thing that goes on with the main line trains. And if you do a net search you'll find learned papers that back it up.  O'Donnell, Arthur and Farmer in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8153748&dopt=Abstract studied 94 suicides on the London Underground in a period of 2 to 3 years in the 1970s ...

The "stone" story has been around for years - I'm thinking it probably did happen but is not recent. Remember that some lines (in east London, the District to Upminster and the Central to Ongar - now just to Epping) run above the ground and many of the stations used to have loving staff who cared for flower beds with earth and stones. There are other areas of stones around in those areas too - just walk down the ramp at the end of the platform and the tracks are actually held in place by "ballast" which is chunks of stone.

I read the article and noted the point about the 94 attempted suicides.

However what follows in the article

The follow-up period was 10 yr. Despite the apparent seriousness of the method, completion of suicide was not found to be higher than in previous studies of attempted suicide by other methods. By the end of the follow-up period 18 persons had died, nine of natural causes. Coroners' inquests were held for the unnatural deaths. Seven verdicts of suicide

seems to imply seven suicides in 10 years.......

The article talks of 94 attempts from 1977 to 1979.  We're not told when in 1977 to when in 1979, so that's a minimum of 1 year to a maximum of 3 - in other words, somewhere from 31 to 94 per year.

The "7 suicides verdicts in 10 years" is follow ups on these cases - some people go quickly but you'll find the article tells you that a lot linger; it's not the instant death the person might have hoped for.  Some fail the first time and try again. In my view, it emphatically does not imply "seven suicides in 10 years".  The article also mentions that (for privacy reasons) not all events could be tracked / followed up. Cascode - I think you were selectively quoting to help your point 

Edit to add "bolding"

The article talks of 94 attempts from 1977 to 1979.  We're not told when in 1977 to when in 1979, so that's a minimum of 1 year to a maximum of 3 - in other words, somewhere from 31 to 94 per year.

The "7 suicides verdicts in 10 years" is follow ups on these

By the end of the follow-up period 18 persons had died, nine of natural causes. Coroners' inquests were held for the unnatural deaths. Seven verdicts of suicide and two of accidental death were recorded.

Seven verdicts of suicide. Whether it is one or three years it is still a lot less than one a week.
I suppose it is the difference between suicides and attempted suicides.