Install full-height platform screen doors to seal the track edge

The proposal

Fit full-height platform screen doors (PSDs) — floor-to-ceiling glass/steel barriers with automatic sliding doors aligned to train doors — along the platform edge, so passengers cannot enter the track area at stations. Implemented by metro/rail operators, retrofitted line-by-line or built into new lines.

Why it would work

PSDs are the purest form of means restriction: they remove access to the track at the point where a large share of station suicides occur. Because roughly a third of attempts are impulsive, physically blocking access during a crisis prevents rather than merely delays many deaths.

Evidence

Full-height PSDs show the largest and most repeated effect of any rail-suicide intervention, with station-level reductions of ~59.9% (Hong Kong), ~89% (Seoul), and ~90.9% (Shanghai), and no suicides reported on Singapore's MRT. Studies (Law 2009, Chung 2016, Xing 2019) consistently find little or no displacement to non-PSD stations. Height matters monotonically — full-height can eliminate access entirely, unlike half-height.

Implementation path

Prioritise high-throughput underground stations (where retrofit is feasible and dwell times regular), coordinate door alignment with rolling stock, and phase across a network. Capital-intensive and easiest on metro systems with uniform trains; harder on mainline platforms with varied stock.

Trade-offs and limitations

High capital cost; difficult on open mainline platforms serving mixed or long-distance trains and non-stopping expresses. Addresses station suicides only, not trackside or level-crossing deaths. The balance of evidence for comprehensive PSD sealing shows minimal within-network displacement, but studies generally cannot measure substitution to different methods off the network.