Officials apparently see deaths on the subway as standard operating procedures.  amNY reports that on average in 2006, two people died a month.

In the eyes of the Transit Authority, that’s a pretty low number of people considering the millions of people that ride the subway everyday.  So hey, two less straphangers a month is just the cost of doing business I guess.

Is that a little sick?

Of the deaths last year, 23 were categorized as “natural causes.”  What the hell is a “natural” subway death?  Isn’t dieing in your sleep a natural death?  Then again, I guess that really is what happened to Eugene Reilly last year.  As you may recall, Reilly had a heart attack and died on the subway, only no one noticed!  He rode the subway for hours before anyone noticed that he was dead.

There were:

5 Accidents
5 Suicides
2 Murders
3 Unknowns

In case you were wondering, an “Unknown” is a case where investigators were unable to determine if the death was a murder, suicide, or accident.

Also interesting to note that the Transit Authority doesn’t keep track of this stuff.  It must be the old “if we don’t keep track of it, we won’t have to report it” kind of mentality.