London Underground's (LU's) Capital Programmes Director, David Waboso, was named as Leader of the Year in the Manufacturing and Infrastructure section of the Black British Business Awards on 2 October.  

As LU's Capital Programmes Director, David is accountable for delivering the multi-billion pound upgrade of the Underground - a huge programme of modernisation, with major stations, trains, track and signalling being upgraded, rebuilt and replaced to provide more capacity for London's rapidly growing population.  

Huge improvements have already been delivered with faster and more frequent services on the Victoria and Jubilee lines, as well as new walk-through, air-cooled trains on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.

These trains are now also being introduced on the District line, and the modernisation of the Northern line's signalling - to cut journey times and allow more trains to run more frequently - will be completed later this year. Major modernisation and rebuilding work at Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Victoria and other stations is also well underway.  

David Waboso CBE, LU's Capital Programmes Director, said: `These awards recognise the importance of inspiring all our teams, no matter from what background, to have the confidence that they can succeed in business and I'm delighted to accept this honour on behalf of the entire LU family`.  

Mike Brown MVO, Managing Director of London Underground said: `This is another fantastic accolade for one of the top senior leaders in industry in the UK. I am obviously hugely proud of David's wonderful achievement, which is of course hugely merited given the great work he is doing in modernising the Underground network so that it can grow and meet the needs of our millions of customers.`  

The Black British Business Awards celebrate and promote the often unsung contributions by black professionals in businesses in Britain, uncovering inspirational role models and ambassadors across all UK industries including media, professional services, finance, infrastructure and manufacturing and science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

  • Born in London, David started his career in railways on the Docklands Light Railway, where in 1996 he was awarded first prize as "UK Project Manager of the Year", following which he was recruited to the Jubilee Line Extension to take charge of completing the trains and signalling systems in time for the Millennium opening. 
  • David was appointed LU's Director of Engineering in 2005, following a spell at the former Strategic Rail Authority.
  • He holds BSC and MSC in Civil Engineering, is a Charted Engineer, and is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, the Association for Project Management and the City & Guilds of London Institute.