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The federal government will be spending nearly $400,000 in an attempt to prevent people from committing suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming train. No word yet on mandatory safety nets surrounding tall buildings.

There is no exact record of how many people commit suicide each year on rail lines. There are dozens of trespasser fatalities each year, but it’s not clear how many are accidental.

Between 1993 and 1996, 39 per cent of such deaths were apparent suicides, while 10 per cent were clearly accidental, according to Transport Canada documents. In the remaining half of all cases, the cause was unclear.

Transport Canada is looking to hire outside help to stem the tide. The contractors will "develop countermeasures, including aspects addressing educational and community-based measures and infrastructure design," according to a department request for proposals issued Monday.

On a much smaller scale, the City of Toronto has prevented a dozen or so suicides each year on its Bloor Street viaduct by erecting a fence with netting, at a cost of $6 million that was split with the private sector.

Doing something similar on the country’s railways would be unworkable, according to a transportation expert at the University of Manitoba.

"What have we got, 40,000 miles of railway tracks?," said Barry Prentice, director of the university’s Transport Institute.

Even if the physical barriers were limited to densely populated areas, the task would be enormous, Prentice said.

Obviously, Barry Prentice does not care. He is a big meanie.

cp: Dust My Broom