The Global Light Rail Awards took place again at the Honourable Artillery Company in London this year with various winners from across the world being announced – although with a heavy bias towards systems in the UK. Amongst the winners on the night were KeolisAmey Metrolink who were named Operator of the Year whilst there were also some rather interesting choices of award winners.
As always seems to be the case immediately following the awards the amount of information of who won is rather limited online, although at least this year several of the winners were named on Twitter “as it happened”.
Its probably fair to say that the “main” award of the night is the “Operator of the Year” category. In 2021 KeolisAmey dominated this category with their Docklands Light Railway subsidiary winning and Manchester Metrolink being highly commended. 12 months later and KeolisAmey Metrolink have been named as “Operator of the Year”.
In the “Manufacturer of the Year” category Stadler were named as winners for the second year in a row but its who was Highly Commended that will probably make you think “are you sure?”! For CAF were given this accolade as the judges apparently highlighted their “many happy clients”. That’s the same CAF who constructed the trams on the West Midlands Metro which had to be withdrawn from service because of bodyside cracks – not once but twice and repairs are still ongoing. We’re not sure that West Midlands Metro would quite fall into the “happy clients” category there. We did say we try and be positive with our articles but there are occasions when you see something and honestly can’t believe what you’ve seen!
In other awards – and from organisations who have announced their success – UKTram won the “Vision of the Year” thanks to the Light Rail Strategy that they launched earlier this year. James Hammett, UKTram Managing Director, said: “We’re delighted that the judges recognised this landmark piece of work, and winning the Vision of the Year Award will surely help to raise its profile within the light rail sector and amongst key stakeholders. The strategy’s publication followed many months of work by professionals from across light rail and this award is testament to all their efforts.”
Edinburgh Trams won the “Significant Safety Initiative” category. This came after a series of exercises, carried out in partnership with the emergency services and other key stakeholders, to test the operator’s responses to potential emergencies and its safety management processes.
Colin Kerr, Edinburgh Trams’ Head of Safety and Projects, said: “The safety of our customers and colleagues has always been our highest priority and the judges recognised the thorough approach we had taken to planning the exercises, as well as the improvements we have since made to our emergency procedures. We are delighted that this commitment to continuously improving our safety protocols has been acknowledged at such a prestigious industry event.”
Edinburgh Trams’ Marilena Papadopulou was also Highly Commended in the Rising Star category following her rise through the ranks at the company to be Renewals Manager.
“Technical Innovation of the Year – Rolling Stock” went to Revolution Very Light Rail.
As well as being Highly Commended in the Manufacturer of the Year, CAF were Highly Commended in the “Project of the Year over 50 million euros” for the contract to supply 22 bi-directional vehicles to Bonn in Germany.
And to end the article with another “are you sure” moment, the West Midlands Metro were Highly Commended in the “Most Improved System” category.
CAF otherwise known as NAFF .?