Dr Rob Carroll and Richard Briggs from Mott MacDonald have been awarded the Permanent Way Institution’s (PWI) President’s Award for their paper “What is Light Rail?”.
The President’s Award is presented to the best paper which has been published in the PWI Journal during the previous calendar year. “What is Light Rail?” reflects the growing importance of light rail in the UK’s transport landscape; it was specially prepared for the journal to introduce the light rail sector to a wider rail industry audience.
Their work provides a comprehensive overview of the light rail ecosystem, from segregated metro systems and on-street tramways to tram-train operations. It explores the diversity of infrastructure, vehicles, and operations across the UK and Ireland, and also offers a forward-looking perspective on the sector’s future, including planned extensions and new systems.
Rob and Richard received their award from PWI President, Chrisma Jain, at the PWI’s annual celebration in Birmingham on 5th November.
Both Rob and Richard are deeply embedded in the light rail community. Richard is a member of the UKTram Centre of Excellence, which won a Global Light Rail Award for Team of the Year last year, and Rob contributes to the Light Rail Engineers Group. They have also both supported the LRSSB in developing industry guidance.
James Hammett, UKTram Managing Director, said: “Both Richard Briggs & Rob Carrol have been instrumental in supporting the UKTram Centre of Excellence and it’s workstreams. They are both shining examples of how our sector collaboration and knowledge sharing helps drive the sector forward and further aids the development of Light Rail and all the benefits it brings.”