Congratulations

Elizabeth line Duty Customer Experience Manager Rizwan Javed has been awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year Honours list! We are incredibly proud of Rizwan and the dedication and support he has given, and continues to give, to customers and colleagues. Since joining MTR Elizabeth line in 2015, Rizwan has saved at least 29 lives through intervention.

Alongside his day-to-day role, Rizwan has been using his deserved recognition as a platform to discuss mental health, something he has been advocating for over a decade, and to signpost support, as well as to raise awareness of how to identify, intervene and support a vulnerable person.

Rizwan said: “The fact that I’ve been awarded an MBE has still not sunk in, even now! And while I am incredibly grateful for this huge honour, this award belongs to anyone who has ever intervened to support someone in a mental health crisis at our stations or on our railways.

“My reward is the opportunity to promote the health and wellbeing platform inside and outside of the rail industry. I began this journey when I joined MTR in 2015 and attended the Samaritans’ Managing Suicide course as part of my training. This helped me to understand how to identify vulnerable people and then safely intervene and support them. I needed the skills I had learned just two days after the course’s completion and, through listening and showing empathy, I was able to build a rapport with a vulnerable person and support them to a safe place for extra help.

“I think it’s vital that everyone knows that they are not alone with their struggles.”

Congratulations and very well done, Rizwan!