InformationHUB
Suicide Prevention
Research

Suicide on the Australian railway network 2015-2019

This December 2023 report by Angela Clapperton, Phillip Law, Matthew Spittal and Tess Cutler from the University of Melbourne provides the results of an in-depth review of Australian railway suicide coronial data for the period 2015-2019.  It is our intention that the findings from this analysis will further inform the evidence base for suicide prevention interventions on the rail network, and we are keen to work with the government to this end.

While all suicides are concerning and warrant prevention efforts, railway suicides are of particular concern because they occur at public sites and are witnessed by people who are working at, using or near the railway when an incident occurs.  Train drivers and other first responders frequently experience severe psychological consequences after being involved in a railway suicide or suicide attempt (and other fatalities and injuries).  In addition to the impact on the person, train crew, first responders and other witnesses, their family, friends and colleagues, incidents also have substantial economic implications because of the major effects on rail operations, with delays and cancellations causing impacts on train positioning and staffing as well as passengers and freight movements.  .

We know that prevention measures such as: restricting access to the rail corridor through fencing, other barriers and the removal of railway  crossings; encouraging people to seek help before and at the time of crisis; increasing the likelihood of a third party intervening; and responsible media reporting of suicide, all do work.  Over the last two decades, the number of people that have died by suicide and suspected suicide in the rail environment have declined, and so too has the rate per 100,000 of the population.  But there is still much more to do.  Since 2001 on average, 74 people have died by suicide or suspected suicide each year, and in 2022, 62 died – more than one per week.  There are a similar number attempt suicide and there are hundreds of other threats of self-harm at rail locations.

The data in this report is sourced from the National Coronial Information System and coded by the researchers.  It focuses  particularly on the actions and behaviours  in the period proximal to the suicide because they are observable and in theory can be acted upon, and can therefore inform the development of interventions.

Most of the findings are presented for Australia as a whole, due to the small numbers in some states.  More detailed information is provided in the appendix for Victoria where 50% of railway suicides occurred in the study period.  We expect similar information for New South Wales to be available mid 2024.  Except for the total numbers of suicide deaths and associated demographics, the numbers presented are likely to be underestimates as we cannot assume that the specific information we were interested in was reported in the coronial documents.

Read and download the report here.

Recommendations of suicide prevention activities resulting from the research include;

  1. Restricting access to the rail corridor must be a priority because 300 people were at a location that theoretically could be restricted.  This must include:
    1. Ongoing investment in trackside fencing (particularly in Victoria) (other information is available to help inform a schedule of implementation based on areas of greatest risk).
    2. Maintenance of fencing
    3. Removal of level crossings (especially at sites where a suicide or attempted suicides have occurred)
    4. Future stations and station upgrades incorporating some type of platform screening.
  2. Increasing visibility in the corridor, this is proposed because some individuals hid prior to impact with the train, for example behind vegetation, pylons and signal boxes and then ran into the path of the train.
  3. Upstream media campaigns to shift public attitudes, confidence and intentions related to suicide prevention, this is proposed because of the number of individuals that verbalized their intent to take their own life, including an intention to die by railway suicide.  The younger demographic should be particularly considered in the design and delivery platforms. 
  4. Bystander education and training about common behaviours, this is proposed because other people can be present and with more information and confidence they may recognise the signs that someone may be considering suicide and know how to safely speak with the individual and/or seek help.

Key Australian research findings

  • There were 377 railway suicides between 2015-2019 included in this study (includes closed coronial cases only), 188 in Victoria (49.9%), 100 in New South Wales (26.5%), 37 in Queensland (9.8%), 34 in Western Australia (9%) and 18 in South Australia (4.8%). 
  • 71% (268) were male and 29% (109) were female.
  • The median age of people who died was 33 years, with the age pattern generally similar for males and females.  62% were under the age of 40 years, 14% (53) were aged 10 – 19 years, 28% aged 20 – 19 years (104) and a further 20% (75) were aged 30 – 39 years.  
  • 45.5% (171) of incidents occurred on the open track, 9% (34) at a vehicle railway crossing, 6.4% (24) at a pedestrian railway  crossing, 34% (128) from a station, 6 occurred at another location and 14 didn’t have a location specified.  There was no statistical association between sex and location type but there was a significant association between age group and location type – the highest proportion of track incidents was the youngest group, station incidents was the oldest group.  There was also a statistical association between state and location type with NSW the highest at stations (68%) and Victoria and Western Australia the highest on the open track (58%).
  • 31.3% (118) of individuals accessed the fatal location by jumping or climbing from the platform, 28.1% (106) via the open track, 10.3% (39) walked on the track from a vehicle level crossing, 6.9% (26) walked onto track from a pedestrian level crossing, 3.2% (12) accessed through a fence and 20.2% (76) was unspecified.
  • For issues with information reported in the coronial records (number of cases included in the data varies):
    • 63% had a diagnosed (57%) or suspected (9%) mental health condition at some time across their life with 26% (21% diagnosed, 5% suspected) having a mental health condition ‘active’ within 12 months of the suicide.  Of those with an active diagnosed condition within 12 months of death, 60.5% were male, 39.4% were female.
    • 55% had a significant life event occur within 12 months of the suicide and 18% a significant life event occurring within 48 hours of death.
    • A previous suicide attempt is one of the strongest predictors of subsequent suicide risk.  24.1% of the individuals had attempted suicide previously, of these, 45% had made multiple attempts and 41% had made a previous RAILWAY attempt.
    • 5% were close with someone that died by suicide.
    • 22% had verbalised an intent to take their own life at some time, with 34% of them stating an intent by RAIL.
    • Immediately prior to the incident, 65.3% were at a private home, 7.5% were at a hospital and 5.8% were in a mental health facility.
    • Prior to setting out to the incident location, 47% were described as behaving ‘normally’ and 53% were distressed or behaving in a manner that indicated a problem.
    • 42.3% walked to the rail location, 38.7% travelled by private car and 12.4% travelled by train.
    • The time at the location varied from 2 mins to 6 hours, with an average of 50 minutes and a median of 20 minutes.
    • 22.3% cases had evidence of alcohol use.
    • Other people were reported as being present in 19.4% of cases.
    • Behaviours reported at the incident location included:  removing belongings (35.2%), hiding (33.3%), pacing (13.9%), talking with someone in person (5.6%), platform switching (4.6%) and drinking/likely substance affected (4.6%).

Key Victorian research findings

  • 49.9% (188) of suicide deaths on the Australian heavy rail network occurred in Victoria, 45 in 2015, 39 in 2016, 33 in 2017, 37 in 2018 and 33 in 2019.  This is an annual rate per 100,000 of the population of 0.60.
  • 58% (109) of incidents occurred on the open track, 15.4% (29)at stations, 13.3% (25)at vehicle railway crossings and 10.6% (20) at pedestrian railway crossings.  There is no significant association between sex and the type of location.  There is a significant association between age group and the type of location.  The group with the highest proportion of incidents occurring on the open track was the youngest group and the group with the highest proportion of incidents occurring at stations was the oldest group.
  • The researchers were able to determine how individuals accessed the fatal location in almost 80% of cases (147).  In more than one third of incidents, individuals accessed the location via the open track (70, 37.2%).  In a smaller proportion of cases, individuals accessed the track by jumping or climbing on the tracks from a platform (26, 13.8%) and via vehicle (14.4%) or pedestrian (10.1%) railway crossings.
  • 21.8% (41) were born overseas, 1.1% (<5) identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, 34% (64) were employed, 26.6% (50) unemployed, 13.8% (26) students, 12.2% (23) retired or pensioner and 13.3% (25) unknown employment status.  32.9% (62) had children.
  • For issues with information reported in the coronial records (number of cases included in the data varies):
    • 78% had a diagnosed (69%) or suspected (8%) mental health condition at some time across their life with 44% (38% diagnosed, 6% suspected) having a mental health condition ‘active’ within 12 months of the suicide.
    • 72.9% had a significant life event occur within 12 months of the suicide (68.6% male and 31.4 female) and 27.1% a significant life event occurring within 48 hours of death (76.5% male and 23.5% female). These significant life events included worsening or onset of mental health issues, relationship breakdown or difficulties, problems relating to school or work and financial difficulties.  There was no significant association between sex and evidence of a 12 month or 48 hour life event or age and evidence of a 12 month or 48 hour life event.
    • A previous suicide attempt is one of the strongest predictors of subsequent suicide risk.  24.1% of the individuals had attempted suicide previously, of these, 43.6% had made multiple attempts and 20% had made a previous RAILWAY attempt (this is 6% of all those who died by railway suicide in Victoria).
    • 5.8% were close with someone that died by suicide.
    • 30.9% had verbalised an intent to take their own life at some time, with 39.7% of them stating an intent by RAIL.
    • Immediately prior to the incident, 67.6% were at a private home.
    • Prior to setting out to the incident location, 46.1% were described as behaving ‘normally’ and 53.9% were distressed or behaving in a manner that indicated a problem.
    • 53.2% walked to the rail location, 39.8% travelled by private car and 10.2% travelled by train.
    • 23.9% cases had evidence of alcohol use.
    • Other people were reported as being present in 21.8% of cases.
    • Behaviours reported at the incident location included:  removing belongings (36.1%), hiding (41%) and pacing (13.9%).

Read and download the report here.

Current TrackSAFE suicide prevention initiatives

Preventing suicides on the Australian rail network is a priority for TrackSAFE.  Our current activities include:

  1. Pause.Call.Be Heard – advertising campaign promoting the Lifeline crisis services. This campaign has been evaluated twice and does lead to calls to Lifeline.
  2. Lifeline self-help toolkit – this is a curated digital library of tools, techniques and information to help individuals understand what they may be going through and learn ways to self-manage their symptoms and seek assistance. 
  3. TrackSAFE Suicide Awareness Training – this free 30-minute online training is for anyone working in or supporting the rail industry.  It builds skills and confidence to help them identify someone who may be at risk of suicide and know how to safely intervene.
  4. Continuing the research on who comes to rail to take their life and why through examination of residential address vs fatal incident location (examining whether people generally go to a location near to where they live) and also the lived experiences of people who have attempted suicide at a rail location and are willing to speak on the issue.
  5. Economic impact of suicides, attempted suicides, other fatalities and injuries and trespass on the Victorian passenger rail network in 2022.  This research will be complete in the first half of 2024.  We believe that this research will support the business case for  recommending additional fencing/barriers on the network.
  6. Facilitating the sharing of Australian and overseas research findings, prevention and intervention practices with rail operators and governments.
  7. Publication of annual fatalities, injuries and near hits on the heavy and light rail networks.

Updated 11 January 2024