Last October, as winter was approaching and the nights were getting longer, I was on the way to Brussels after work. I was pretty comfortable with the train ride as I travelled there about once a month. Just as we were approaching Aachen, 40 minutes into the journey, the train stops in the middle of nowhere. An announcement came on in German, followed by an English one. I barely caught the word - suicide.
Huh? Did I get that right? I ask a fellow passenger. Yes the train cannot continue because someone jumped in front of the train. This train, I ask? Earlier train.
The train has to make a detour which will delay the journey by two hours. Annoying. I will arrive Brussels at midnight. I might get mugged at the station.
Too tired to read anymore, I was left with my thoughts. It was sad to think about this person who decided that on he/she had had enough of life. And what a way to go. Surely it would be less grissly to pop some pills? And how's that for cleaning up after people's mess, the rail workers who have to scrap the victim (if they can be called that) off the tracks. And what about the train driver who won't have time to slam on the brakes?
Jumping in front of trains is just not done. Passengers will arrive late or miss their connections. And all these trains being re-routed - what was it about the butterfly effect again?
My colleagues were somewhat nonchalant about the incident when I told them the following day.
Germany or Belgium, they want to know. Err Germany. Oh it's quite common. Especially when the season changes and the thought of winter overwhelms them. Seems these folks even have a favoured line to jump.
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