Study into cause of rail suicides

RAIL AND health chiefs are to work together on a pounds 330,000 study into rail suicides.

The investigation, which will begin next month, will focus on 103 deaths in the East Coast main line region between 1991 and 1997. It will be jointly funded by Railtrack and the Trent NHS Executive and will also involve Doncaster Healthcare NHS Trust.

Experts in psychiatry from Sheffield University and local train operating companies, including Great North Eastern Railway, which operates the East Coast main line, will contribute to the study.

John Ludlow, a consultant psychiatrist and lecturer at Sheffield University, said: "We intend to put together health data with Railtrack data to determine what sort of mental health problems lead people to choose the railways as a means of committing suicide."

Bill Robinson, head of assessment in Railtrack's safety and standards directorate, said: "Our aim is to reduce the occurrence, and mitigate the impact of, suicides."

There were 173 suicides on the railways last year, compared with 167 the previous year. Rail deaths of this nature account for about 3 per cent of all UK suicides.