OREANDA-NEWS. Network Rail hosts roundtable discussion with partner organisations to discuss how to further reduce suicide rates ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day.

Health Secretary commits an extra £1 billion in mental health services, which will benefit an additional one million people per year

Railway staff, police officers and members of the public have saved over 1,100 people in 2015/16 having intervened in potential suicide attempts on Britain’s railway.

Neena Naylor, a Network Rail train dispatcher at Birmingham New Street and a life-saver, said: “I suffered from depression and sought help but too many people, especially men, do not and find themselves at breaking point. Through the training I received from Samaritans, I intervened when I saw someone in distress at my station and played my part in helping save someone’s life. We can all be more vigilant and potentially make a life-saving difference if we try.”

It was revealed that in 2015/16, there were 252 suicides on Britain’s railway. While this represented a 12% reduction on the previous year, bucking the national trend, more needs to be done to tackle this modern day killer.

Timed to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day, leaders from a number of organisations spearheading suicide prevention met at Network Rail’s London Euston headquarters to challenge the taboo that exists, particularly amongst men, of talking about suicide.

Highlighting suicide as the single biggest killer of UK men aged under 50, the group looked to review progress that the railway industry has made in tackling suicide, and commit to plans to reduce the number of suicides taking place on the railway by encouraging people to seek help.

Chairing the event, Network Rail’s chief executive and deputy chair of the Rail Delivery Group, Mark Carne said: “Any death on the railway is a tragedy which has a real emotional impact on the family and friends involved, and on our staff and customers. It’s a complex issue which the whole of society needs to work together to address.

“Men are three times more likely than women to die by suicide – it’s the single biggest killer of men aged under 50 in the UK. A large proportion of my 36,000-stong workforce are men and I want them to know its ok to talk – we must break down the taboo of talking about suicide. If anyone feels like they need support, it’s ok to ask for help.”

Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said: “I pay tribute to the dedicated staff of Network Rail who are leading the way in preventing suicide. As a country, we tragically lose 13 people to suicide every day, and nearly three quarters of those people had no contact with NHS mental health services in the previous year.

“Though we are making progress, as one of the first countries in the world to launch waiting times for mental health services, giving people a guarantee on how quickly they can expect to be seen, we want to go much further. Our plans will see a million more people benefiting from mental health services every year, with £1 billion of extra money being invested to ensure everyone can get the help they need.”

The roundtable was attended by representatives from; the Department of Health, British Transport Police, Samaritans, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), Rethink, and Network Rail, who discussed ways to drive down suicide rates further, progress to date, and what could be done differently in future.

It was noted that for the first time in three years, there had been a reduction in the number of suicides taking place on the railway – 2015/16 saw 252 suicides/suspected suicides on the railway, 35 fewer than the previous year and a 12 per cent reduction.

But of those who took their own lives, 80 per cent were men.

Attendees of the roundtable recognised the railway industry’s support of the government’s 10 per cent reduction target in suicides by 2020/21. The group called for appropriate resources to be made available, increase the support offered to men, and for a commitment to share data and learnings across their organisations.

Through Network Rail’s partnership with the Samaritans, more than 11,000 rail staff and British Transport Police officers have been trained on Samaritans courses, giving them the skills and confidence to identify and approach vulnerable people on the railway and lead them to a safe place.

About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.

About the Railway Upgrade Plan

The Railway Upgrade Plan is Network Rail's investment plan for Britain's railways. It makes up two-thirds of Network Rail's £40bn spending priorities for the five years to 2019 and represents the biggest sustained programme of rail modernisation since the Victoria era. It is designed to provide more capacity, relieve crowding and respond to the tremendous growth Britain's railways continue to experience; passenger numbers have doubled in the past 20 years and are set to double again over the next 25 years - so we need to continue to invest in building a bigger, better railway. For passengers, that means: