Staff from across the rail industry have come together for a night of celebration and to recognise the life-saving achievements of colleagues who used their Samaritans rail suicide prevention training to support vulnerable people.

These include MTR Elizabeth Line’s Richard Baker and GTR’s Amir Aziz, whose efforts were celebrated as they received Highly Commended awards.

The evening’s winners received their accolades at the annual event at the NEC, in Birmingham, presented by comedian Ed Byrne, which celebrates rail staff’s achievements across the industry – from drivers, to cleaners, and engineers to station staff.

Samaritans Head of Rail, Olivia Cayley, said: “A huge congratulations to the winners and a big well done to all those who were recognised and nominated for the Lifesaver Award this year. Samaritans training is vital for the industry and proof that it really does save lives. We know the past couple of years have had a big impact on the nation’s mental health, so it’s so important we continue to look out for one another and encourage more rail industry staff to do Samaritans free training.”

As well as the incredible lifesavers, Samaritans staff were nominated for a number of industry awards – including Lifetime Achievement award for Samaritans Trainer, Steve Tollerton, who developed Samaritans rail programme’s Managing Suicidal Contacts and Trauma Support Training courses, when the Network Rail partnership began in 2010. The courses have now trained over 30,000 rail staff collectively.

The Samaritans Rail Training Team were also nominated for the outstanding Team Covid Heroes award, as during a challenging time they were able to move their suicide prevention training online to continue to train staff and save lives.

Steve said: “I am delighted to be recognised at the fantastic Rail Staff Awards and to be part of such an amazing team providing life-saving skills to those within the rail industry.

“As part of Samaritans’ MSC course, I am proud to cover what is a very difficult topic of suicide and help to develop delegates’ emotional, listening and observational skills in supporting those affected by suicide both on the railway and within wider community settings.”