Former TfGM chairman wins special accolade for lifetime service

TfGMC Chair Councillor Andrew Fender with the 100th tram

Andrew Fender, a foemr chairman of Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM), has been given the Judges’ Special Award at the Global Light Rail Awards.

Only bestowed at the judges’ discretion, the award is given to individuals and organisations that have made a significant difference to a city, region or the wider light rail industry.

Mr Fender was presented the award for being one of the main advocates and driving forces behind Greater Manchester’s Metrolink, the UK’s largest light rail network. His commitment and dedication helped develop Metrolink from a single 31km line between Altrincham and Bury in 1992 to today’s 97km network that carries 42 million passengers each year.

Mr Fender served as a Manchester councillor between 1977 and 2018 and was the chairman of TfGM between 2011 and 2018. He also chaired the Rail Study Group which initially developed the ambitious plans for Metrolink.

Alongside the Judges’ Special Award, TfGM and MPact Thales (MPT) were highly commended in the Best Environmental & Sustainability Initiative and Technical Innovation of the Year categories for their joint utilities and traffic management work on the Metrolink Trafford Park Line (TPL) extension.

MPT’s Health and Wellbeing programme also won the Significant Safety Initiative prize, while their work at Pomona as part of the TPL extension was also recognised.

KeolisAmey Metrolink (KAM), the company that operators Metrolink, was highly commended in the Outstanding Engineering Category for its gigabit ethernet (GBE) resilience project to improve the network’s IT resilience.

Daniel Vaughan, TfGM head of Metrolink, said: “It’s no surprise that Andrew is known as ‘Mr Metrolink’. From its inception and delivery, to its development and expansion Andrew was there every step of the way, tirelessly advocating, persuading and negotiating.

"Our trams are now an essential part of tens of thousands of people’s daily lives and they’ve helped ensure residents across our city-region can benefit from Greater Manchester’s continued growth. A large part of this is down to Andrew’s tenacity, vision and passion and this award is a welcome recognition of a career dedicated to delivering the public good of public transport.

“I’d also like to congratulate MPT and KAM for their awards and commendations. It shows we have one of the best teams in the country running and improving our tram network for the benefits of millions of passengers.”