Three in four recent youth suicides in Palo Alto have occurred at the train tracks. Caltrain launched a month-long rail safety and suicide prevention campaign in September with no events scheduled at any of the city's four crossings.

The campaign kicked off with a Rail Safety Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at San Jose Diridon Station, where Caltrain joined Capitol Corridor, ACE, Amtrak and Union Pacific. Other September events include a veterans and first responders suicide prevention event on Thursday, Sept. 10, in Foster City and an Operation Clear Track safety blitz on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Broadway crossing in Burlingame, with Transit Police and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

"Safety remains Caltrain's highest priority, and education is one of the most effective ways to prevent tragedies," Michelle Bouchard, Caltrain's executive director, said in a statement.

The outreach targets trespassing, vehicle incursions and other unsafe activity along the railroad right of way.

Backing the campaign is a new corridor-wide safety framework called CROWS, the Caltrain Corridor Right-of-Way Safety Strategy, which the Caltrain Board of Directors recently adopted. CROWS combines education, enforcement, engineering improvements and data-driven risk analysis to identify high-risk locations and speed up safety treatments. Caltrain also received a Certificate of Merit from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the second consecutive year the agency earned a national safety honor. Ten transit providers were recognized nationwide.

The September push comes as Palo Alto grapples with what Stanford Health experts have called the city's third youth suicide cluster. A JED Foundation report commissioned by the city and published in August found that three in four recent youth suicides in Palo Alto occurred at the train tracks, a rate sharply higher than other Caltrain corridor cities. A 2023-24 Palo Alto Unified School District survey found one in 10 teens reported seriously contemplating suicide in the past year.

JED Foundation representatives wrote in a letter ahead of the report that trains are an urgent concern but called for comprehensive prevention efforts beyond rail crossings alone. A youth task force on mental health and suicide prevention, recommended by JED, is set to begin meeting at the end of September.

Palo Alto has four at-grade Caltrain crossings: Palo Alto Avenue, Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive and Charleston Road. The City Council voted in May not to close the Churchill Avenue crossing, citing traffic and emergency-vehicle concerns. Grade separations at three crossings would cost between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion, with construction not expected to start until 2032, as we reported Sept. 2.

No Palo Alto events are on the calendar. Caltrain's next public outreach opportunity is an information booth at the SamTrans 50th Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 166 N. Rollins Rd. in Burlingame.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.