Suicide on the London Underground has been an issue since the Underground (also known as the 'Tube') opened in the 19th century. It involves a person intentionally jumping into an oncoming train's path so that the impact kills them. Suicides on English railways increased significantly following newspaper reports in 1868 about the method; all injuries on the country's railways must be reported, in accordance with the Regulation of Railways Act 1873.
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Euphemisms
Underground management and train drivers use several phrases to refer to suicides, sometimes using "person under a train" (usually to inform passengers), "person on a track," "passenger action," but most commonly "one under" — a well known phrase across the network. Those who survive are often charged with offences such as "endangering safety on the railway" and "obstruction of trains with intent".
Effect of track layout
About half of the stations, mostly those actually underground, have a pit under the tracks. Originally constructed to drain water, they have now been shown to reduce the number and severity of injuries and deaths, although not to eliminate them: as a Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson has said, "people fall into [the pits] and the train rushes on overhead". A study of 58 cases showed that the presence of a suicide pit halved the number of deaths. Another safety mechanism are platform edge doors (PEDs), which separate the train from the passengers. These are installed exclusively at the below-ground stations of the Jubilee Line Extension. PEDs are expensive to install and can fail to open, adding a potential reliability problem to train services.
Prevalence
Alison Wertheimer wrote in 2001 that there were 100–150 suicides annually on the Underground. The annual number of suicides in the 1940s was 25, increasing to 100 by the 1980s, which, according to Farmer et al, is less than expected, given the increase in passenger numbers. A report by Time said there were 50 suicides in 2007. Between 1940 and 1990 there were 3240 incidents of "persons under a train". Research suggests that 64% of incidents involve males, and that those involved are disproportionately young. The fatality rate fell from 70 percent in the 1950s to about 55 percent in 1990, and in 1993 a TfL spokesman said 40 percent of attempts resulted in death. Stations near to psychiatric units tend to have a high number of suicides, and a high proportion are by patients: 55 percent at Tooting Bec station.
In 2011, figures for the decade were released by TfL. The rate had gone up to 80 per year, as compared with 46 in the year 2000, and this was attributed to the financial crisis. The worst-affected station was King's Cross St. Pancras while the numbers for the decade by line were:
Most deaths on the Underground are suicides. Farmer et al. said they found no attempted murders during the period of their study. Research by O'Donnell and Farmer suggests that 93% of deaths are deliberate and 7% are accidents.
In popular culture
In 2008 the comedy film Three and Out was released, about a Tube train driver who is told that if he witnesses three suicides in a month, he will lose his job, but will receive a large amount of money. ASLEF, the train drivers' union, criticised the film, saying it was insulting and foolish.