Focus on Light Rail – an event jointly organised by Rail Forum and UKTram – took place in early November 2025 with representatives from across the sector getting together to explore opportunities and challenges across the evolving public transport landscape.
Speakers at the event included senior representatives from West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Keolis, Stadler, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Network Rail, London Trams, Nottingham Express Transit, and the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board.
Also speaking was UKTram Managing Director, James Hammett. He spoke about the organisation’s Unified Rail Vision, developed through collaboration with the Rail Forum to jointly address issues common across both sectors. He also emphasised the progress made in ensuring light rail’s visibility in recent funding announcements, the importance of long-term government stability for strategic planning towards the sector’s 2040 goals and the introduction of the “Rising Stars” initiative to help retain knowledge and talent for the future.
He commented after the event: “Events like this demonstrate the value of dialogue and shared ambition across the industry. The future of light rail depends on collaboration between operators, suppliers and government to really bring out the benefits of light rail and its long-term growth.”
Also at the event the West Yorkshire Combined Authority shared their ambition for regional mass transit, while Keolis emphasised the value of a national framework for light rail delivery. Contributions from the LRSSB and Nottingham Express Transit placed safety innovation and human factors at the forefront of the sector learning, with Network Rail and Transport Infrastructure Ireland outlining forward-looking plans for expansion and connectivity across rail and tram systems.
Cat Appleby, Rail Forum’s Membership & Engagement Director, said: “We were delighted to curate such an exciting programme of expert speakers and bring together our collective memberships from Rail Forum and UKTram. Having speakers from across the light rail landscape produced a hugely valuable opportunity for the supply chain to understand and identify opportunities, challenges and routes for innovation. Given the growth within the Irish market, having the Head of Light Rail for Transport Infrastructure Ireland provided an invaluable contribution. Initial feedback from delegates suggests that a significant degree of new connections have been made, which we look forward to seeing develop over the coming months.”