By anyone's standards, Emma Norman has a very difficult job.

The 27-year-old is a planning manager for London Underground. She is responsible for signalling planning and looking at medium and long-term strategies. Mrs Norman, who has been working for London Underground for the past three years, has been named as a finalist in the Transport and Logistics Awards, which highlight the achievement of women making a mark in the sector.

Mrs Norman is nominated in the Rising Star of the Year category.

So, does the underground get an unfair press? "I was on the other side once," she tells People. "You only realise how much work goes into it all once you work there and how difficult it is to get things right all of the time.

"The underground is many, many years old so there are physical restraints that you can't always get around."

Since joining London Underground, she has instigated the closure of five non-conforming stations, implementing new methodology - particularly on the District Line - increasing maintenance levels by 30 per cent to help reduce backlog numbers.

The awards, sponsored by Royal Mail, take place on Thursday May 13. She says: "It was an achievement just to be nominated - to win would be massive. A majority of the people who work here are male so to get that recognition would be great and make me feel very proud about what I am doing here."