Train operator CrossCountry and magazine Modern Railways have jointly raised more than sixty thousands pounds for The Brain Tumour Charity with a pre-retirement High Speed Train trip.

As announced in March this year, CrossCountry’s High Speed Train (HST) fleet ran its final journeys in September 2023. One of its last journeys was a one-off trip from Leeds to Swanage on the south coast, organised in support of the charity and raising a total of £63,022.12 through ticket, merchandise and food and drink sales on the day.

Attendees at Modern Railways’ annual Golden Spanner awards donated a further £1866.90, bringing the total to £64,889.02.

CrossCountry chose this particular charity in memory of Jo Taylor, who was a popular member of the CrossCountry workforce who died in 2021.

More about how CrossCountry supports charities and local communities can be found here.

Tom Joyner, CrossCountry’s Managing Director, said: “It was important to mark the contributions of not only our High Speed Trains that have served us so well for over 40 years, but also the generations of colleagues who have worked tirelessly to maintain them.

“It’s also been a privilege to raise so much money for such a worthy cause – just another example of what can be accomplished by colleagues across the rail industry working together.”

Philip Sherratt, Editor of Modern Railways magazine, said: ‘It was a privilege for Modern Railways to work with CrossCountry to mark the withdrawal of their iconic HST fleet and to see the interest the farewell tour generated, as well as to have raised such a phenomenal amount of money. It was great to celebrate this achievement alongside colleagues from CrossCountry and The Brain Tumour Charity at our Golden Spanner awards.”

Hannah Bowler, Corporate Partnership Manager at The Brain Tumour Charity, said: “We are so grateful for the support of everyone at CrossCountry. It’s been such a pleasure working with the team and it’s incredible that nearly £65,000 has been raised in memory of their colleague Jo Taylor.

“The effort from everyone involved will allow us to continue growing our support services, accelerate change in brain tumour diagnosis and treatment, and to invest in vital research for all those affected.”