Short cuts Suicides project to investigate deaths on railways

A three-year project to find out why people commit suicide on railways was launched in Doncaster last week. Trent regional office and Railtrack are funding the£330,000 Suicides and Open Verdicts on the Railway project, which will focus on studies by Doncaster Healthcare trust's research, education and development centre into the 103 deaths on the East Coast main line between 1991 and 1997. Last year, there were 173 suicides on the rail network, compared with 167 the previous year. Railtrack has already launched a poster campaign at stations in association with the Samaritans.