Metro Issues

Aside from the strikes, my experiences with the metro here have been mostly positive - the trains are efficient and regular, it's convenient, inexpensive, etc. However, on Wednesday, I experienced two separate problems.

The first of these problems occurred on line 9 (direction: Mairie de Montreuil) on my way from Meudon to the Champs Elysees, as I had a French lesson. The train stopped at La Muette and stayed there for quite some time. The driver announced that we were waiting because of an "Incident maladie voyageur" (a sick commuter). This announcement was made several times during the 15 minutes that we had to wait at the station. The station itself made a similar announcement, but instead of blaming a sick persion, they said that it was due to a technical problem. Hmmm... The term "technical problem" is often used as a euphemism for "some git jumped in front of the train", which would also be covered by "maladie voyageur".

The second problem was on RER A, as I was trying to get home from my French lesson. I hopped on the train at Charles de Gaulle-Etoile and waited on the train for about 10 minutes before it left the station. Once again the official reason was a "technical problem". The train then came to a holt about halfway between Etoile and Auber and sat there for a few minutes. Upon finally arriving at Auber, we were informed that there'd be a 10-minute delay before the train would be able to move on towards Chatelet, so I decided to get off and head for line 7, which also goes from Auber (technically from Opera, but the two stations are linked) to Chatelet, though normally it's slower because there are more stations. Thankfully line 7 was devoid of problems.

Today, once again on the way home from Meudon, I was on line 9. I get on line 9 at Pont de Sevres (the start/end of the line, depending on your direction), which is good because I always get a seat. Anyway, today before the train left the station, there was an announcement saying that the traffic was experiencing delays over the whole line due to another technical problem. The problem must have been solved before I got there though, as I didn't notice anything abnormal, fortunately.

I don't know if any or all three cases were due to suicides, or suicide attemps, but I've been told by many people that jumping in front of a train (metro, RER, or Grandes Lignes) is the most common method of topping oneself in Paris and its suburbs, so I wouldn't be surprised. I can't find any statistics to support this claim, aside from an average of 61 people per year, 41% of whom are women.