In Pictures: The Women Who Keep London Underground Going

By Londonist Last edited 35 months ago

Last Updated 28 January 2022

In Pictures: The Women Who Keep London Underground Going

As part of its International Women's Day celebrations at the beginning of March 2020, TfL displayed a photo exhibition profiling some of its female staff at Victoria Underground, bus and coach stations. Given the Covid-19 situation though, it's likely you didn't have time to see the photos; we're publishing a selection for you here.

Kate Hamblin, principal transport planner

Kate led the concept design and development of a bus customer journey time metric and a new bus demand dataset, including a bus occupancy tool. She won 'best presentation' at the TfL Analyst Conference two years in a row, achieving this alongside completing her Master's degree.

Morwenna Paz, principal sponsor for Southwark

Morwenna manages street projects from concept to completion. She works with local councils, developers, and communities to create spaces that benefit people. Her career has taken her from planning for the 2012 Olympic games to managing the road network to new projects in Southwark, including creating safer junctions in Elephant and Castle.

Roberta Scorza, area engineer in civils maintenance

Roberta is a dedicated civil engineer who oversees projects on site, looking after the structures on the Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City and Jubilee lines. She also works as a mentor to new staff and is a champion of diversity in the workplace.

Maria King, area manager

Maria King has been working for the Underground since she was 17 years old. She now manages the staff at Russell Square and Caledonian Road stations. She is dedicated to ensuring that her staff flourish in their roles and can build their careers within TfL. Maria’s greatest achievement is the number of staff who she has supported to achieve their career aspirations.

Amareet Kaur, high volume recruitment team leader

Amareet Kaur recruits new employees into TfL. Her campaigns have helped increase the number of women in transport and created new opportunities for existing employees. A recent campaign for customer service supervisor positions saw 45.5% of the posts going to women, up from less than 30%.

Katrina Treacy, customer and community engagement manager

Katrina leads the customer and community ambassador team within TfL Rail. In the past year, her team has held more than 1,000 engagement events with community members, working on issues around accessibility, safety and inclusion. More than 100,000 people have been reached by Katrina and her team.

Marian Kelly, head of safety, health and environment

Marian joined TfL to make the Underground more environmentally friendly. She is responsible for making sure the tube is a safe and healthy environment for our customers and staff, as well as finding new ways of making it greener.

Sherelle Cadogan, instructor/operator

Sherelle founded the Transport Friends for Life Association, which holds an annual lunch for retired employees. Sherelle has raised more than £9,000 for various cancer and children's health charities, and also works with TfL's Carers Staff Network Group.

Karen Healy, customer service assistant

Karen Healy works at Liverpool Street station. She has prevented three people from taking their lives on the Underground, spending hours with people in distress and supporting them in their hour of need. Her work is now part of the Underground's suicide prevention training. Look out for her 'Lifesaver' pins when you see her at Liverpool Street.

Yaa Antwi-Nsiah, events coordinator support manager

Yaa helps to plan for major events across London. She has also set up a series of workshops called Time to Shine, which help women across TfL gain confidence and plan for advancement in their careers.

Katherine, lead commercial manager

Katherine Adams works across the Greater London Authority Group. She leads a team that procures goods and services vital to the operation of the city and is focused on reducing costs while maintaining quality. She champions the development and career advancement of her team and mentors a number of people.

Alexandra Batey, director of investment delivery planning

Alexandra began her career as an engineering graduate. She now serves as director of investment delivery planning, leading the sponsorship of TfL's Capital Investment Programme. Alexandra has been a strong advocate for women in engineering and working mothers, having worked part-time at TfL to juggle the demands of work and family.

Joan Saunders-Reece, emergency planning manager

Joan Saunders-Reece is an emergency planning manager for the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines. She was the first female train operator on the Victoria line, first female fleet instructor, and the first female Emergency Response Unit manager. She now works to deliver events like the New Year's Eve fireworks and the Notting Hill Carnival.

Grace Reidy, engineer

Grace Reidy is an engineer and chair of TfL's Womens' Staff Network Group. This organisation has more than 2,000 members of all genders who advocate for equality within the industry. The group also helps to ensure that all staff are supported throughout their career and life changes.

Heidi Alexander, deputy mayor for transport

Heidi is focused on delivering the mayor's Transport Strategy. Before joining the Greater London Authority, she was the MP for Lewisham East. Between 2006 and 2010, Heidi worked as deputy mayor for the borough of Lewisham and cabinet member for regeneration.

Trish Ashton, general manager of the DLR

Trish oversees the operation of the DLR, the busiest light rail network in the country. She manages a network of 45 stations and 149 trains. Trish started her career as a graduate trainee before moving on to management roles, including managing staff on the Central and Victoria lines.

Winnie Lam, policy support officer

Winnie is a policy support officer in the Taxi and Private Hire team. Prior to that, she worked to improve services on our bus network. She is the chair of the Staff Network Group for Disability, serving as an advocate for the hundreds of disabled employees across TfL. She is pictured here with her guide dog, Marble.

Natalie Gordon, team manager

Natalie received an MBE in 2020 for her work assisting victims of the Grenfell fire. She worked at the Westway Centre to ensure those impacted had Oyster cards and travel passes to help them move between school, work, health services and temporary accommodation.