SOUTH West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt has paid tribute to railway workers after new figures showed more than 1,000 lives were saved last year by people intervening in potential suicide attempts on Britain’s rail network.

Although the number of suicides on the railway nationally dropped by 12 per cent in 2015/16, the figure to the south and west of London actually increased to 26 during the year, amounting to one every fortnight.

But this number could have been much higher, with Network Rail staff, police officers and members of the public saving 112 lives in the Wessex region, stretching from London’s Waterloo to stations in Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset, during the same period.

Commenting on the figures, Mr Hunt, who is also the Secretary of State for Health, confired the NHS has committed an extra £1 billion in mental health services, which will benefit an additional one million people per year.

He 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.”

Stuart Kistruck, route managing director for Network Rail told The Herald: “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.”

n In May, an East Hampshire coroner heard how 41-year-old Steven Murphy was allowed out of a Portsmouth hospital, just hours after taking an overdose of painkillers in June 2015.

After going outside for a cigarette, he made his way to Liss station where he jumped in front of a train.