TOKYO, Sept 17, 2009 (AFP) - A Japanese rail operator said Thursday it is installing blue mood-lighting in its stations in a bid to stop people committing suicide on the tracks of a busy Tokyo line.

The blue LED ceiling lamps have already been fitted at seven stations of the Yamanote line, which is used by millions a day, and will be fixed at all 29 stops by late October, an East Japan Railway (JR East) spokesman told AFP.

"Blue is said to make people's minds more serene," he said. "The blue lighting is in part an effort to prevent suicides... while it is also aimed at reducing misdemeanors" such as graffiti and littering, he said.

Japan's suicide rate, already one of the world's highest, has increased since the country entered its deepest post-war recession, with unemployment standing at a record high.

In the first half of the year, police recorded 17,076 suicides, up 768 or 4.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the National Police Agency, which said one third of suicides were linked to financial problems.

At the current pace, experts fear the total may surpass Japan's worst annual record of 34,427 suicides in 2003.

Sixty-eight people committed suicide at stations operated by the Tokyo subsidiary of JR East in the year to March, up from 58 the year before and 42 in 2006.