West Midlands Metro team member Tom Rowe has been named ‘Rising Star’ of the light rail sector at a prestigious annual global awards ceremony last night.
Tom scooped the honour at last night’s Global Light Rail Awards which also saw the popular tramway highly commended in two other key categories.
Based at Metro’s Wednesbury depot, he has played a vital role in making travelling by tram an even safer experience, working closely with the police to further reduce the already low levels of crime reported on the network.
An elated Tom said today: “It feels a bit surreal to be honoured in this way, but I’m absolutely delighted. Although I’ve won the award, the progress we’ve achieved so far wouldn’t have been possible without the support of colleagues here at WMM and partner organisations such as the Safer Travel Team. It just shows what can be done when everyone works together.”
Tom’s line manager Anthony Stanley, West Midlands Metro Head of Quality, Health and Safety and Environment said: “It’s a fantastic achievement and thoroughly deserved. Tom always works tirelessly and often comes to work out of hours so he is able to secure high-quality CCTV footage as quickly as possible to help police carry out their investigations and prosecute offenders.
“His tenacity and attention to detail has also enabled us to successfully pursue a number of significant insurance claims relating to accidental and malicious damage to our network.”
Metro was also named as runners up in the flagship Operator of the Year award and were highly commended in the Most Improved System category during the ‘virtual’ ceremony which was carried out on-line.
Meanwhile two key Metro partner companies also gained recognition with Cordant, responsible for cleaning the tram fleet, winning the Outstanding Achievement Award and engineers from tram manufacturer CAF highly commended in the Team of the Year category for their work on retrofitting trams with battery power.
Carl Williams, Metro Director of Operations, explained: “To be so well represented at these high-profile awards, reflects the dedication and hard work of staff right across the organisation, and amongst our valued partners.
“The past twelve months have seen a number of landmark achievements for West Midlands Metro, not least the successful launch of services through to Centenary Square in Birmingham and the conversion of our tram fleet to run on battery power.
“The team has also delivered a fantastic and highly professional response to the coronavirus pandemic by introducing a range of measures to keep the network safe while maintaining essential services.”
