Walthamstow Muslim Student Wins National Prize for Designing ‘Innovative’ Engineering App

Walthamstow, 24 Muharram 1438/25 October 2016 (MINA) – An engineering student from Walthamstow, East UK, has been touted as a “future industry leader” after winning a national award for designing an app to help railway engineers.

Fahad Rage beat eight other finalists from across the UK to claim the top prize at the Future Industry Leaders Awards, held at the Institution of Engineering and Technology last week.

According to Guardian, Fahad has been working with engineering firm Furrer+Frey, as part of a work placement programme run by education charity the Engineering Development Trust (EDT).

For a competition run by EDT, he was asked to design a tool to improving the compatibility of railway electrification projects to Network Rail’s High Output Plant System (HOPS).

HOPS is a mechanical “factory on rails”, which has so far been used to speed up the installation of overhead line cables and pylons on the Great Western Railway.

Through his own initiative, Fahad learnt the necessary programming languages to design and build an app, which tells designers instantly if a planned installation is compatible with HOPS.

Former Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College student Fahad, said: “My year in industry has given me an insight into the world of work and the importance of communicating effectively with clients and colleagues and of developing my organisational skills.

“These have certainly contributed to me being able to win the award.”

Fahad’s app has won many plaudits in the rail engineering industry, being described as a “huge boon” to those working to convert lines to HOPS.

The youngster is still working on his masters degree in mechanical engineering at University College London.

Chris Ward, EDT’s national director, said: “Fahad has demonstrated that he is an exceptional engineer and his innovation and drive are typical of the students that come to us looking for high quality placements.

“We are always looking to work with new companies to run placements to identify the future industry leaders that UK engineering industry needs.”(T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)