MORE than 100 lives were saved along a train route which runs through Dorset.

Railway staff, police officers and members of the public intervened in hundreds of potential suicide attempts across the country.

Network Rail says 112 of these incidents happened in the Wessex region, which runs from Waterloo to Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset.

Stuart Kistruck, route managing director for Network Rail, said there is still more the service can do.

The figures were released to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day earlier this month and National Rail is supporting a campaign by the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA).

Mr Kistruck said: “Between our staff, the police and members of the public we’ve managed to save the lives of 112 people across the south and west of the country in the last year, but clearly there is still more we can all do.

“Through our partnership with the Samaritans, Network Rail has trained more than 11,000 rail staff and British Transport Police officers on Samaritans courses, of which 859 were in our region. The training has equipped them with the skills and confidence to identify and approach vulnerable people on the railway and lead them to a safe place.

“To really make a difference we want to help get to the root of the problem. Suffering in silence can be fatal, which is why we’re supporting the National Suicide Prevention Alliance’s (NSPA) #ItsOkayToTalk campaign.”

Leaders from a number of organisations spearheading suicide prevention met at Network Rail’s London headquarters to challenge the taboo that exists, particularly among men, of talking about suicide.

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 the suicide rates further, progress to date and what could be done differently in future.

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-strong workforce are men and I want them to know it's 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.”