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Southeastern Railway
Southeastern Railway is one of the UK’s most reliable operators with more than 1,700 services a day to 181 stations across Kent, South-East London and East Sussex. It operates the UK’s only domestic highspeed service and carried 128 million customers last year. Southeastern is dedicated to making sure everyone gets home safe every day and they have a committed safeguarding team who deal with a wide variety of safeguarding issues across their network.
Our work in suicide prevention
Our suicide prevention work is a priority and we are committed to preventing rail suicide across our network.
Southeastern Railway, Network Rail and British Transport Police, as part of our tripartite collaboration are working in partnership to reduce fatalities on the Kent Route. Our 2025-2028 strategy encompasses the vision and workstreams across the tripartite. Since the publication of our last Suicide Reduction Plan 2022/2023 we have made significant progress with the recruitment of a Trespass and Suicide Reduction Manager (TSRM) who works in close collaboration with the Route Crime Team at Network Rail and our BTP colleagues. This demonstrates the commitment given to reducing the amounts of lives lost to suicide on the Kent route.
Our vision is to have zero rail suicides on our network.
Our ambition for the next 3 years is to reduce the number of individuals losing their lives to suicide on Southeastern’ s network.
This strategy sets out the steps we will need to take collectively over the next 3 years to achieve this ambition. Our priority areas for action include:
> Utilise data and evidence to ensure that effective, evidence-informed and timely interventions continue to be adapted
> Work with and signpost to external agencies and partners who provide tailored, targeted support to priority groups.
> Promote responsible media reporting and communications to reduce suicide contagion.
> Provide effective trauma support mechanisms for staff and post incident response to passengers exposed to rail suicide.
> Reduce access to means of suicide on the railway infrastructure through target hardening and focus on mitigation measures.
> Make suicide everybody’s business so that we can maximise our collective impact and support to prevent suicides.
Our motivation for joining the NSPA
Suicides are not inevitable and collectively we should, and will, aim to prevent every suicide we possibly can. It is important to be mindful that suicide rates can be influenced by factors outside of our control, however, we are dedicated to working towards our vision and where we can make a difference, we will.
Our areas of expertise
Our area of expertise is suicide in public places, specifically rail suicide. Latest figures show frontline staff have made many potentially life-saving interventions across the network since April. Our work has resulted in Southeastern receiving the “Champion Award” at the 2024 Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards, organised by Mind in Bexley and East Kent.
> Southeastern colleagues are offered specialist training developed by the Samaritans on how to identify, approach and support a potentially suicidal person.
> We have a dedicated Trespass and Suicide Reduction Manager who works within the Safeguarding team to reduce rail suicide.