The Dreaded 12-9, Train hits person

[Jcarlton]

If you have friends who operate trains for a living you can understand this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/nyregion/subway-deaths-haunt-those-at-trains-controls.html?smid=tw-share&pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Too all my friends who operate trains, stay safe, stay sane.

 

[Eisenbahn]

Does anyone know the policy of the railway companies in Japan on this. I dont remember where I read or heard it but I understood that in the event of a "jumper" onto tracks, the railway sued the estate of the deceased for costs incurred in the disruption of train operations and to restore (clean and clear)  the area after the suicide incident. The costs were quite high and would drain a lot of money from the estate. The policy was there as a deterrent, as I understood it.  But is this actually so. Someone on the forum will know current practice in Japan.

 

Everyone will have read media reports in their own countries of the traumatic effect of such an incident on the Driver.

[cteno4]

Yes I've heard of this. I rather doubt it's much of a deterrent. If you have ever known someone close to taking their own life you realize there is little rational thought going on at that point. It's a tragedy all around when something like this happens.

 

Jeff

[Densha]

Also in the Netherlands often things like this often happen. Too many people perform suicide by jumping in front of express trains, actually I knew someone who did that too unfortunately. Then there's also many incidents that happen because people are crossing the railway track without paying attention to the lights and you can guess what the outcome is... the local tram network where I live also has many of these incidents.

[Nick_Burman]

Here in Brazil and especially in the Greater São Paulo area the issue are people breaking the boundary walls to cross the tracks. These walls, erected expressly to keep folks out of the ROW, are made out of paper-thin concrete - since the railway operator erected the walls but "forgot" to build extra overpasses, underpasses or pedestrian crossings, folks more then readily apply pickaxes to create "alternative routes" across the track. More then often these routes are situated on sharp curves - and also more than often a person crossing the track can neither see nor hear an approaching train (especially if it is a MU set) until it is on top of him, nor can the driver/motorman see persons on the track until it is too late for both of them. One particularly bad location is the foot of Penha Hill on São Paulo's east side - the line snakes along the base of the hill on a series of reverse curves where people not only dug their way across the walls but also have built shacks right next to the ROW. The result is predictable...barely a week passes without someone being run over on that spot. Some CPTM (commuter train operator) motormen have as many as a dozen cases of "12-9" under their wings and thus struggle to return to their positions. Many have been put on disability pensions.

 

 

Cheers NB

[marknewton]

When I was on the freight, my regular mate had at that time been involved in 17 fatalities over the years, mostly level crossing collisions. He was surprisingly sanguine about it all. His view was that he had absolute right of way, and if anyone wanted to dispute that it was their problem, not his. Other blokes I knew were off the road after one incident, and some never went back.

 

Speaking only for myself, I've become a bit callous about fatalities, and that saddens me a little.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.