[negativity]

You'd still expect that they'd have some kind of open-ended vague parlance for suicide-by-train.

In NYC subways, a conductor will at least mention on the intercom that delays are being experienced due to "train traffic", "signaling problems", "mechanical difficulties", "medical emergencies" or "police activity." A suicide could easily be categorized as a medical emergency, hence the ambulances.

[sirdogealot]

They did. She told me it was referred to as [sic]:

"Nous avons eu un grave accident."

Which translates to:

"We have had a (very) bad accident."

I was becoming frustrated at the frequent subway/train delays (while every other local Parisienne just sat tight, chalking it up to an every day event) and she quietly whispered to me on the the train that [sic] "Whenever they say there has been a 'grave accident', somebody probably hurled themselves onto the tracks, and this happens much more frequently around christmast/family holidays for obvious reasons."

Suicide is a terrible thing that literally affects the entire world.

I recently had to deal with my best friend losing his (incredibly successfull) father to suicide. Being an up-and-coming startup-loving entrepreneur... I could have only hoped to reach his level of excellence in the business community. But he just kept to himself and blew his brains out in the family bathroom the other day for god knows what reason... what a shame.

[punee]

I think the term of art is "accident de personne." I certainly heard it a few times myself.

The SNCF can be blamed for a lot of things, including subpar service quality, but I don't think they ever tried hiding the nature of those accidents.

[sirdogealot]

They don't hide them. Apparently every parisienne is aware of the fact that their subways are suicide targets and they just gracefully ignore them.

I was astounded when I learnt about them initially to say the least.