Just two suicides a year, and even that would be too many

Slovenian train drivers are psychologically prepared for the possibility that someone may die beneath their train. Yet railway officials say the unintended accidents can be even harder to endure.

Slovenian Railways has an agreement with police not to discuss suicides publicly. The company says the incidents are not merely statistics: about two people a year now end their lives on the tracks, although the number previously reached 20. Roughly 600 people have died in this way over the past 30 years, making it highly likely that every driver will face such a traumatic experience at least once. Some have already experienced three.

A recent incident near Žalec appears to have followed that pattern. Because the train did not stop at the station, an evacuation operation was automatically launched. Firefighters had to remove passengers because of the height of the train doors and the distance to the ground, then direct them toward replacement transport. On a single-track regional line, that brings rail traffic to a complete halt for at least two hours, and sometimes three. Police investigate the circumstances at the same time.

Slovenian Railways says trains usually cannot stop before a collision. Stopping may be possible on a straight stretch if someone deliberately stands on the tracks, but people often emerge from bushes or other places immediately in front of a train. Drivers receive psychological preparation for such incidents, but collisions at level crossings or unauthorized track crossings are regarded as much worse. So are cases involving people walking beside the line while wearing headphones. Electric trains do not make enough noise to drown out headphone audio, a feature welcomed by neighbors of railway lines but not by a boy killed in Ljubljana last year.