2025: A Year of Progress and Partnership for UKTram

UKTram is reflecting on a brilliant year for both the organisation and the wider light rail sector. 2025 has seen record engagement across our functional groups, growing government confidence in light rail investment and rail patronage across England totalling more than 231 million, with systems outside London seeing a 6% uplift and vehicle miles increasing by 4%.

This year saw the delivery of our highest-ever number of Functional Group meetings and Best Practice Days, with record attendance and more structured, purposeful engagement from members. Knowledge sharing has become more consistent and sector challenges increasingly addressed through collective problem-solving. Alongside this, work has progressed on our long-term 2040 & Beyond Vision, due for publication in early 2026, helping to frame the future direction of light rail in the UK.

2025 also marked a step-change in our internal capability. The organisation expanded its team to support a growing and more complex sector, welcoming new roles focused on knowledge management, digital communications and stakeholder and innovation engagement. These additions have strengthened our ability to support members, develop best practice, manage RFIs (Requests for Information) and enhance the sector’s visibility through a new website and growing digital platforms.

Our Annual Summit in Birmingham was the largest to date, bringing the sector together for a full agenda of presentations, networking opportunities and topical debates on strategy, modernisation, safety and the future of light rail across the UK. 

Supporting people and skills remained a clear priority. We continued to champion inclusion and workforce development, trebling engagement with Women in Transport, expanding early-careers outreach through Worktree and playing an active role in national skills discussions via the Department for Transport’s Employment and Skills Taskforce. Collaboration with partners including the Light Rail Transit Association also led to the launch of the Rising Stars initiative, helping to protect and nurture future industry expertise.

Across the sector, 2025 delivered strong signals of growth and confidence. Passenger journeys continued to rise, with particularly strong performance outside London, alongside increases in vehicle miles and revenue. Major programmes progressed in Birmingham, Blackpool and Dublin, while new schemes and extensions moved closer to delivery across the UK. Technical innovation also gathered pace, from tram-train guidance and OLE competency development to continued progress on Very Light Rail and infrastructure modernisation.  

We also strengthened collaboration at every level, building on our relationships with government departments, devolved administrations, combined authorities and industry partners. Internationally, we've been proud to represent the UK at UITP forums and European technical bodies, ensuring UK experience and expertise contribute to global best practice while bringing learning back into the domestic sector.

Reflecting on the year, Managing Director James Hammett said: 

As the sector looks ahead to 2026, we remain focused on supporting delivery, strengthening standards and promoting light rail as a key contributor to economic growth, decarbonisation and better places. With strong foundations laid this year, the momentum is firmly in place for the next phase of progress. 

We would like to thank our members, partners and stakeholders for their continued collaboration and commitment throughout 2025.  

We wish everyone a restful festive period and look forward to working together in 2026 as we continue to maximise the growth, performance and benefits of the sector, making light rail the natural choice for   sustainable, connected, thriving cities.