Budget rail operator Lumo has marked World Alzheimer's Day by launching Dementia Friends awareness sessions with the Alzheimer's Society — and it's the first UK train company to commit to putting its entire workforce through the programme.
Every one of Lumo's roughly 250 employees across its east and west coast routes will complete the one-hour courses by May 2027. The first sessions began on World Alzheimer's Day itself, with the training rolling out across the rest of the year and beyond.
The sessions are designed to help staff spot when a passenger might be living with dementia, and to respond well: clear, calm and simple language when explaining journey details, plus patience and understanding if someone is confused, upset or asking the same question repeatedly. The charity says the programme is about reducing stigma as much as building skills, and the sessions are free and open to anyone who wants to learn.
Why it matters: around one million people live with dementia across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including more than 41,000 in the North East where Lumo is based. Memory, thinking and behaviour changes can make rail travel genuinely difficult — last-minute platform changes or disrupted timetables can be especially disorientating, both for the person with dementia and anyone travelling with them.
The wider picture is sobering too. A survey found 62 percent of dementia carers experience moderate or severe loneliness, so being able to confidently catch a train to visit friends or family can be a real quality-of-life issue rather than a nice-to-have. The Alzheimer's Society hopes accessible rail travel helps people with the condition keep their independence and social connections, and expects other operators in the region to follow Lumo's lead.
For Lumo, the move builds on earlier accessibility work supporting passengers with ADHD and autism. Lindsay Gauntlett, the company's Head of People and Culture, framed it simply: whoever you are, the operator wants to support you to travel, and to see passengers return to others in similar situations with a positive story about the journey.
The timing fits a good run for the open-access operator. Lumo was recently named the UK's best value rail operator and scored 90 percent overall satisfaction in the Rail Customer Experience Survey covering October 2025 to March 2026 — putting it among the top three long-distance train companies in the country.
For travellers, this is a practical development rather than a symbolic one. If you or someone you travel with lives with dementia, Lumo routes between London, the North East and Scotland are worth considering for journeys where a bit of informed support on board makes all the difference. And if you want to be part of the change yourself, Alzheimer's Society Dementia Friends sessions are available to the public at no cost.
