London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is marking five years of working with suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
Over the last five years, LNER's workers and passengers have raised more than £530,000 for CALM, which points out that “125 lives are lost every week to suicide. And 75% of all UK suicides are male. We exist to change this. We do it by provoking conversation, running life-saving services, and bringing people together so they reject living miserably, get help when they need it and don't die by suicide.”
The train operator and the charity have worked together to launch a newly-liveried train. The train is named ‘You Belong', because creating a sense of belonging is a key part of helping people to feel that they have something to live for and, therefore, to protect them from suicide.
CALM helps people who are struggling with life, and its services are available every day of the a year. By doing this, it hopes to show that there is always somewhere for people to turn.
The new livery has been applied to unit 800106, which will run the full length of LNER's route from the Scottish Highlands to London King's Cross. It is the third named train in the Azuma fleet, along with ‘Century' and ‘Together' which both launched earlier this year.
Fundraising activities for CALM have included:
- passengers donating their Delay Repay compensation and LNER Perks loyalty credit
- staff taking part in the Great North Run
- participating in CALM's annual Lost Hours Walk
- auctioning heritage LNER nameplates including Highland Chieftain.
