Comments on: Suicide barriers for Tokyo trains

By: Holly Blue

Holly Blue — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:01:13 +0000

Where i live in Australia most major train stations have bumps where you should stand back and anyone who is blind can use their stick to see where to stay back…I know bumps may sound strange but they are quite efective and not so strange to look at.
We musnt get many train suicides here as there has never been talk of barriers except on the West Gate Bridge so there is no need for actual barriers. However with such high suicides in Japan i applaud any move to prevent any number of suicides no matter how small.
^^

By: If You Are a Japanese Guy, Japanese Women Hate You, Basically at Venix Flytrap’s Anticlimax

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:30:56 +0000

[...] you’ve heard about the Suicide Barriers they’ve had to put up in the subways of Tokyo. The suicidals in question are almost unfailingly among the following demographic: 22 to 34 [...]

By: shirogohan

shirogohan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:28:30 +0000

These barriers were talked about five or six years ago when a blind Japanese fell, and another Japanese and Korean guy tried to help him back up to the platform. The two people who tried to help were both killed, not sure about the blind person.
These barriers are so blind Japanese do not fall onto the track.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:18:18 +0000

Yeah, but I bet you’d 2nd guess yourself if you had to climb over one instead of just running straight into death.

By: otsuka

otsuka — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:16:54 +0000

Odaiba has some floor to ceiling barriers as I recall. I think the musashino-sen could use these more than the yamanote.

By: 404error

404error — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:45:43 +0000

of i really would wanna kill myself by jumping in front of a train those barrieres wouldnt stop me…

By: Animérida » Barreras anti suicidas

Animérida » Barreras anti suicidas — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:23:59 +0000

[...] es pura prevención, lo que no nos explicamos es por qué habrán tardado tanto en ingeniarse este sistemita que pese a lo simple luce eficaz. Actualmente existen 9 en operación y tras su instalación nadie [...]

By: Brian B

Brian B — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:11:34 +0000

Those barriers look siiick! I’ve always wondered why subways don’t have barriers in the first place. I mean, anyone could just slip and fall down onto the tracks. If a train so happens to come by at the same time, there goes that person’s life.

By: hoihoi

hoihoi — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:17:27 +0000

>You’re still going to get suicides when people jump over them
before that ,indeed ,someone makes to stop whem ppl tried..

By: stereo

stereo — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:49:16 +0000

I do not think it is appropriate to call them “Suicide Barriers”. Railway companies call them “safety fences”.

If you have ever used trains in Tokyo during rush hours, you find it very easy to kill somebody by pushing him down to rail tracks as a train is approaching. Those fences are meant to prevent such crimes.

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:03:34 +0000

I agree with what Supercoolmanchu and Hanenosuke. If someone decides to end their own life a small barrier isn’t going to stop them.

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:48:24 +0000

These barriers seem a little low. They installed very similar ones on some of the Taipei subway stations but those are nearly 160cm in height, more like doors.

They tend to get installed only on the stations where there is likely to be a mixed crowd of passengers / children. The “office worker” stations don’t have them. So its not as much a suicide prevention tool — as to avoid children & elderly falling on the tracks.

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:04:36 +0000

I’ve already seen these barriers up in several locations around the city, just not on the Yamanote line. When I first saw them, I thought they weren’t very useful for suicide prevention, as anyone can jump right over them if they want to, so it really only prevents impulse suicides.

On the Yamanote and other lines with really crowded stops, these would be nice to prevent accidents more than suicides, I think.

Oh, and when someone commits suicide by jumping in front of a train, their family is charged for the lost time/money so technically it probably won’t save JR much money.

By: Hanenosuke

Hanenosuke — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:22:47 +0000

I think these barriers are laughable. You’re still going to get suicides when people jump over them. They should take a cue from Hong Kong or Guangzhou where they have floor-to-ceiling glass platform walls at almost all stations.

By: Supercoolmanchu

Supercoolmanchu — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:18:52 +0000

Is suicide so impulsive and unpremeditated? Barriers seem like a good idea, but you would think if someone really wanted to commit suicide, they would just walk over to another train station that doesn’t have a barrier.

It would certainly be a lot safer with all the incidences in the past with lunatics randomly pushing people off the platforms. It always seemed so crazy to me that a big hunk of metal could zoom by at 50mph brushing past a mass of people mere inches away without anybody getting seriously injured. Still to this day whenever I’m on the platform I subconciously check behind me to see no one shady is ready to push me over the tracks… Maybe I’m a bit too paranoid.

By: Charles Nguyen

Charles Nguyen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:53:44 +0000

I’m sure it would still reduce suicides by trains since it would take more effort to climb over than just running straight.

I always thought why they didn’t have them in the first place. I guess they’d have difficulty stopping at the same spot every time (well in NYC at least).

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:46:07 +0000

With only 4% of all train stations featuring suicide prevention barriers, it seems like it would be money-well-spent. It costs a lot of money when someone commits suicide by train, so instead of paying for the clean-up, they may as well invest it in the prevention.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:44:51 +0000

They have them in several places. I know for sure they have them at Yotsuya, among other places.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:29:34 +0000

This drawing makes it look like people could just step over the barriers… is that the case?

By: phauna

phauna — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:10:20 +0000

Is it Tameiki-Sanno where they have the fully walled off platforms with doors? Like floor to ceiling glass walls.