Some experts in suicide say that a train behind a school might make it a little too convenient for a depressed youngster to carry out the unthinkable. A tall fence, and possibly the elevation of tracks at railroad crossings, they say, might provide just enough of an obstacle to stave off a suicide. The 15-year-old was the second boy from his class in 13 months to take his life on that same stretch of track.

``Anything they could do to make it more difficult, not readily accessible to get on the tracks, and time consuming, that buys time, and time buys life,'' said Eve Meyer, executive director of San Francisco Suicide Prevention. ``All the studies show, when access is harder, then it's frustrating and the person is more likely to give up. And in the course of giving up, the whole episode can die down. It's not true that people switch to another method. That rarely happens.''

Caltrain is in the midst of developing a long-range plan to elevate above street level all railroad crossings along the San Francisco-to-Gilroy corridor.

Caltrain spokeswoman Jayme Maltbie Kunz said the so-called ``grade separation'' plan is aimed at making the system safer, preventing accidents such as cars colliding with trains, and improving the flow of cars that won't have to stop for trains. And it's to plan for future high-speed trains that can go faster with the improved safety of separated tracks. But it's not to prevent suicide, Kunz said.

She said Caltrain cannot install fencing along its entire route because it passes through many miles and dozens of intersections. Also, she said, some communities oppose walling off the tracks with high fences.

``The point is, grade separations are a good way to stop accidents from happening, but not to stop someone from committing suicide,'' Kunz said. ``If someone wants to kill themselves in front of a train, they will be able to do it even with grade separations. They can climb up the berm and get on the tracks. They can go to a train station and lie down on the tracks. We had a woman do that last year. Fencing the entire system isn't feasible, and that's not going to stop someone bent on killing themselves either.''

Focus on students

Palo Alto school district and city officials agreed and said they had no plans to push Caltrain to do more.

``There's nothing you can do to keep people off of the tracks,'' said Mayor Dena Mossar.

``It's a very difficult issue; it's very painful, and I think that Caltrain has in fact been very cognizant of the safety issue. I think the issue has more to do with students and schools and parents than it does the tracks.''

Along those lines, Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Mary Frances Callan said the district has decided to focus on the students, not the trains. The district is developing a plan to help teachers work more closely with students to help them avoid such desperate decisions.

``The train was simply the means this young man chose,'' Callan said. ``But we don't want to focus on the means. We want to focus on the fact that we don't ever want them to think of doing this.''

Push for obstacles

But some experts recommend that even a slight obstacle could deter a suicide.

``Of course, it would be very difficult to make train tracks inaccessible, a whole system inaccessible,'' said Dr. Jerome Motto of San Mateo, a psychiatrist who retired from the University of California-San Francisco. He has advocated suicide barriers on the Golden Gate Bridge, unsuccessfully.

``But it would be a good idea to consider trying to fence off the tracks at least in urban areas, just through the city, and near the school and that kind of thing,'' he said. `Maybe five or 10 miles, whatever is feasible. It would be worth doing.''

The train system, which is run by a joint powers board of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, is hoping voters pass a measure next November to provide $10 billion for high-speed rail projects statewide, some of which could go toward completing the separations of Caltrain tracks.

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