Crisis counsellors slowed or stopped trains 17 times in the first year of a suicide prevention program that saw help phones installed on all Toronto subway platforms.

“The line is definitely being used,” said Karen Letofsky, executive director of the Distress Centres of Toronto, which handles calls placed from subway phones. Dubbed Crisis Link, the program was launched in June 2011.

More than 140 pay phones on all platforms at Toronto’s subway stations were equipped with a button that, if pushed, connects callers to a crisis counsellor at the Distress Centres. Posters placed throughout the stations read: “Thinking of Suicide? There is help. Let’s talk,” and directs people to the phones.

Between June 2011 and June 2012, counsellors asked the TTC to slow trains 13 times, and to stop four times, she said. More than 320 calls were made in the program’s first year, Letofsky said, and nearly 120 of those required help. More than 180 others were pranks, people testing the phones or calling by accident. The number of calls received are about what was anticipated, said Letofsky.

“Clearly this is important, but we also recognize the impact of this goes beyond what might happen in the subway,” she said, adding that Distress Centres are noticing an overall increase in calls following the advent of the program. Distress Centres’ 24-hour telephone support line responds to some 120,000 calls per year.

The number of suicide-related incidents — which include suicides and suicide attempts — on Toronto’s subway system fell last year to 13, half the number that occurred in 2010, said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross.

There have been 10 incidents, including five fatalities, so far this year, said Ross.

He cautioned against attributing the low number last year to any one cause, including Crisis Link.

“It may have saved a life or two,” Ross said. “We can and do stop trains if a call comes in from a phone on a platform.”

Along with the phones, TTC staff is trained to identify potentially suicidal behaviours such as people not taking the first available train and lingering on platforms. Suicide-related incidents on the TTC have declined since a peak of more than 50 in the early 1980s, according to a 2010 report.

The transit commission wants to install platform barriers to keep people off the tracks, but it would cost at least $5 million per station. Platform barriers are widely used in subway systems in Europe and Asia, though still relatively rare in North America.