The annual Global Light Rail Awards took place on 4th October in London with systems and individuals across the world celebrating their success over the past 12 months. As the name suggests these are Global awards and as such it isn’t only systems in the British Isles who were up for the awards and many of the winners came from overseas this year, including the “Operator of the Year” award which went to Doha, but that’s not to say there wasn’t a reason for systems here to also have a cause of celebrate about things.
One of the most high profile projects in recent years on a UK tramway has been the Trams to Newhaven project which has seen very nearly three miles added to the Edinburgh Trams network. And the project – which was completed on time and within budget – was named as the Project of the Year (over 50 million euros).
Meanwhile, another big project which has recently been completed was also rewarded on the night with the Metro Flow project on the Tyne and Wear Metro winning Outstanding Engineering Achievement. This went to Kier Group who have recently acquired the rail division of the Buckingham Group following the latter going into administration.
Two other categories which stayed in the British Isles were the Richard Brown Best Customer Initiative Award and the Significant Safety Initiative. The former went to Keolis Nottingham for their Zero Tolerance campaign whilst the Midland Metro Alliance (dedicated support for stakeholders during Metro construction) and West Midlands Metro (helping customers during the cost of living crisis) being highly commended. The Safety category saw Keolis Amey Docklands win for Custom House AI whilst West Midlands Metro were highly commended for the trap and drag detection system.
Blackpool Transport also had reason to celebrate as they were given the Team of the Year award for the Heritage Tramway Team.
Its not all about organisations as individuals are also recognised on the night and this included Colin Kerr who received a special Judges Award. Colin was recognised for his contributions to light rail safety and the delivery of major projects, which includes the Trams to Newhaven project in Edinburgh where he has been the Head of Safety and Projects. He is also a Non Executive Director of the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board and comes just as he has announced his semi-retirement.
- The full list of winners on the night is available at https://www.mainspring.co.uk/_webedit/uploaded-files/All%20Files/GLRA/GLRA23/GLRA23%20Honour%20List%20copy2.jpg
