There have been no suicides on Wiltshire’s railway network since the coronavirus lockdown began.
Despite obvious thoughts that the regulations restricting so many of people’s freedoms would cause an increase in railway deaths, there have been none locally – according to a railway source.
The last reported suspected suicide on the railway was at Swindon station on 25 February.
In that incident, a man in his 70s was hit by a Bristol-to-London GWR train arriving into Platform 3 for its 4.10pm stop. Despite the best efforts of emergency services, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
When somebody dies by suicide on the railway, there’s a process professionals follow to deal with the aftermath and get trains moving again. You can find out more about this here.
n 2018/19, there were 279 suicides or suspected suicides on the railway. This accounts for around 4.4 percent of suicides that take place in Great Britain.
