For John Hogan, director of safety and training at the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail, dealing with train-related fatalities never gets easier.
“You never get used to it,” said Hogan, who has been working in the transportation industry for 29 years.
This year alone, as of September 26, Hogan’s department has dealt with 10 trespasser strikes along the Commuter Rail tracks.
Seven of those strikes were fatal, according to statistics provided by MBCR, and police ruled four of the deaths as suicides.
“It never becomes mundane—it’s just one of the tragedies that are part of the job,” said Hogan.
The number of train-related deaths, to date, on both the Commuter tracks and MBTA tracks combined, is the same as last year, with 8 total fatalities.
With a few months left in 2012, it’s Hogan’s goal, as well as the goal of state transportation officials, to spread more awareness about safety along the tracks and prevent that number from surpassing last year’s tragedies.
While the MBTA and MBCR already run “Operation Lifesaver,” a non-profit public awareness program that teaches people how to be safe at intersections where highways and railroads cross and educates the public about being a pedestrian around trains, more programs are in the works.
Through a partnership with the Samaritans of Boston, a group of volunteers who aid depressed and suicidal individuals with resources and information, signs are already hanging up at the 24 Commuter rail stations with the most incidents in the state, said Hogan.
Hogan said there are plans to place additional signs up at railroad crossings and stations later this year, however.
The concerted safety effort and partnership could even lead to signs and resources being posted up in places along Massachusetts’ highways, too.
Roberta Hurtig, Executive Director of the Samaritans of Boston said the collaboration with the state has been positive and productive.
The Samaritans first began working with transportation officials several years ago, and now, based on evidence that the program has worked, they are designing a program where there will be even more increased signage.
“Our general aim is to keep people as safe as possible,” said Hurtig. “If you can have a resource available when someone might be feeling ambivalent, that’s what it might take to pull them back.”
Beyond the track signs, the Samaritans man the phone lines for those in need 24-hours a day in offices in Boston and Framingham. Hurtig said they answer roughly 2,500 calls a year.
Hurtig said “death by rail” is a rare occurrence, though, and represents less than 5-percent of the nearly 600 reported suicides in Massachusetts each year. But as the Samaritans continue to work with transportation officials, they hope that number will continue to decrease.
“It works,” said Hogan. “The way I judge success is the amount of calls we get from the Samaritans. In 2010 they had two calls [from people who mentioned they saw the signs], this year they have already had six.”
Hogan said even one phone call confirming it helped save someone’s life is worth it.
“It’s certainly worth the effort we are putting in and the money we are spending. It’s a super feeling,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS
Commuter Rail Strikes:
2010: 15 trespasser strikes
2011: 13 trespasser strikes
2012 (as of 9.26.12): 10 trespasser strikes
Track trespasser deaths by Year:
2010: 16; 11 on Commuter Rail tracks, 5 on Subway tracks
2011: 11; 8 on Commuter Rail tracks, 3 on Subway tracks
YTD 2012: 8; 7 on Commuter Rail tracks, 1 on Subway tracks
Train deaths ruled suicides:
2010:
Commuter Rail: 7 ruled suicide deaths
Subway: 5 ruled suicide deaths
2011:
Commuter Rail: 8 ruled suicide deaths
Subway: 3 ruled suicide deaths
YTD 2012:
Commuter Rail: 4 ruled suicide deaths
Subway: 1 ruled a suicide death
