Lessons learned from the collaborative European project RESTRAIL: REduction of suicides and trespasses on RAILway property

Grigore M Havârneanu,Marie-Hélène Bonneau,Jacques Colliard

doi:10.1007/s12544-016-0203-y

Grigore M Havârneanu, Marie-Hélène Bonneau + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12544-016-0203-y

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Abstract

RESTRAIL was a three year EU FP7 research project which aimed to help reduce the occurrence of suicides and trespasses on railway property and the costly service disruption caused by these events. The project was coordinated by the International Union of Railways (UIC) and provided the rail industry and researchers worldwide with an analysis of the most cost-effective prevention and mitigation measures. The goal of this paper is to inform the railway and scientific community about the successful completion of the project and to present an overview of the main results and key innovations. The project covered five relevant issues which significantly contributed to improve the prevention of railway suicide and trespass, and to mitigate their consequences: (1) collection and analysis of data related to railway suicides and trespassing accidents and information about preventative strategies; (2) assessment of preventive measures to reduce railway suicide and trespass; (3) assessment of measures to mitigate the consequences; (4) pilot tests to evaluate some promising measures on the field; and (5) practical recommendations and guidelines. The main project outcomes included: an integrated data analysis on railway suicide and trespass, a list of 25 recommended measures, 11 field tests which provided new pieces of evidence for the effectiveness of different measures, and a free online toolbox for decision-makers. These achievements are discussed in relation to the ongoing need of practical and exploitable results from EU-funded research projects, since the scientific and applied outcomes of RESTRAIL are an example of good practice for the benefit of the entire railway community and society.

Highlights

Suicides represent more than two thirds of all railway fatalities and together with the deaths of unauthorised persons they account for 88 % of all fatalities occurring within the railway system [1]
RESTRAIL (REduction of Suicides and Trespasses on RAILway property; www.restrail.eu) was a EU FP7 collaborative project implemented from October 2011 until September 2014 and coordinated by the International Union of Railways (UIC)
The analyses showed that several soft measures against railway suicides were already implemented in European countries and worldwide

Summary

Introduction

Suicides represent more than two thirds of all railway fatalities and together with the deaths of unauthorised persons they account for 88 % of all fatalities occurring within the railway system [1]. These incidents cause important delays [1] as well as post-traumatic stress to the railway staff [2, 3] and discomfort to passengers and bystanders [4,5,6]. These issues are alarming for both governmental authorities and railway companies, which are more and more interested to find cost-effective solutions against railway suicides and trespassing accidents. Method The project covered five relevant issues which significantly contributed to improve the prevention of railway suicide and trespass, and to mitigate their consequences: (1) collection and analysis of data related to railway suicides and trespassing accidents and information about preventative strategies; (2) assessment of preventive measures to reduce railway suicide and trespass; (3) assessment of measures to mitigate the consequences; (4) pilot tests to evaluate some promising measures on the field; and (5) practical recommendations and guidelines

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Conclusion