Ann Mills, RSSB Deputy Director System Safety & Health and Chair of the TreSP-Network, welcomed members and thanked our hosts, in particular
Johan Fredin-Knutzén and all his colleagues at the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) at Karolinska Institutet and also Region Stockholm and the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) for their excellent conference on suicide prevention in rail-bound traffic held the day before, and for the social events and technical visit around the current meeting.
Vladimir Carli, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Karolinska Institutet, presented NASP activities:
- Research projects;
- Education and training of different groups of people: students, PhD students, general public, blue light personnel, mental health personnel;
- Knowledge translation, dissemination, publication, communication to the media, public, professionals and decision makers.
Johan Fredin-Knutzén, Clinical psychologist, specialising in suicide in the transport system at NASP, gave a summary of the national conference on suicides in rail-bound traffic held on 4 December 2023 (see previous eNews article).
Gergö Hadlaczky, Associate Professor at NASP and Head of the Center for health economics, informatics and healthcare research (CHIS), gave a fascinating lecture on suicidology and means restriction, discussing: “Buying time when it’s needed most”.
Danielle Stone, Project Assistant at NASP, presented the following proposal for a study that they wished to conduct: “Investigation of the underlying reasons for the success of blue light interventions in the railway setting”.
This was followed by discussions on the effectiveness of blue lights and pilot tests being carried out in various countries.
Anne Silla, Special Advisor at Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, shared some “Insights on train-pedestrian collisions on Finnish railways ‒ What do we know based on in-depth accident data?”
Finally, Johan Fredin-Knutzén (NASP) informed participants of the technical visit that would take place in the afternoon: a visit to typical commuter stations in the Stockholm area where pilot tests were carried out with blue lights, mid-track fences and platform-end lengthwise fences.
Isabelle Fonverne shared UIC information, future meetings and important dates for the diary:
- Potential UIC project on AI to observe suicidal behaviours, trespassers and level crossing users: final call for interested members to reply to UIC this week at the latest. Final decision on the project feasibility would be taken at the UIC General Assembly meeting on 15 December.
- 9th TreSP-Network meeting planned for 6 March 2024, hosted by Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (FFE) in Madrid, with a joint technical visit with the UIC Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN) on 7 March. The GLCN meeting would take place from the afternoon of 7 March to 8 March.
- TRESPAD and ILCAD campaigns and launch conferences would be held on 5 and 6 June 2024, and the technical visit on 7 June 2024, hosted by Junta de Seguridad en el Transporte (JST) (transport safety board) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
