Train-related suicidal decapitation

Suicide by decapitation as a primary method of injury is not common. When decapitation does occur in association with suicide, it may be a secondary consequence of the primary method of suicide, for example massive blunt force trauma, or hanging with a significant drop; however, primary suicidal decapitation has been described specifically in the context of railway incidents wherein victims lie across railroad tracks in-front of oncoming trains. Herein we report the case of a 49-year-old male who was decapitated after lying-down with his neck atop a railroad track in a railroad stockyard. He was subsequently run over by a train as it began to move to leave the stockyard. This case of train-assisted suicide occurs less often than the more common modality of suicide by train wherein victims stand or jump in front of a moving train or lay their body across the railroad tracks in order to be struck by an oncoming train.