Light rail sector celebrates success at Global Light Rail Awards 2026
Organisations and individuals from across the light rail sector were recognised for their achievements at the Global Light Rail Awards on Wednesday 7th October, with UKTram members featuring prominently among this year's winners and highly commended entries.
Held at Battersea Arts Centre in London, the sold-out ceremony celebrated achievements across operations, engineering, innovation, customer service and sustainability, recognising the people and projects making a difference across the industry.
As a long-standing sponsor of the Global Light Rail Awards, UKTram was pleased to support the event for another year, sponsoring both the UK Operator of the Year and Rising Star categories.
London Trams and First Tram Operations secured the UK Operator of the Year title, while West Midlands Metro was highly commended in the same category.
South Yorkshire Supertram enjoyed further success, winning the Richard Brown Best Customer Initiative Award for its customer engagement work and receiving a highly commended award in the Most Improved System category.
KeolisAmey Metrolink received highly commended recognition in both the Best Customer Initiative and Technical Innovation of the Year categories, while the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board (LRSSB) was highly commended for Technical Innovation of the Year, Project of the Year under €50 million and Vision of the Year.
Other notable achievements included Coventry City Council, Transport for West Midlands and Mott MacDonald winning Team of the Year. Nottingham Trams also celebrated success, with its contractor Krause & Hall Ltd named Supplier of the Year.
Among the evening's individual winners were Janete Gava of Nottingham Trams and Alex Wray of South Yorkshire Supertram, who were jointly named Rising Star winners. Matthew Brittain of West Midlands Metro was also recognised as Employee of the Year.
International projects and organisations were also celebrated, with awards recognising work on Dubai Metro, the Docklands Light Railway and tram networks around the world.
UKTram Managing Director James Hammett said:
“UKTram has been proud to support the Global Light Rail Awards for many years, and it's always a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the people and organisations doing great work across our sector. It was great to see so many UKTram members recognised this year. The team and I would like to congratulate everyone who was shortlisted, highly commended or took home an award.”
The awards also recognised contributions to the industry through the Geoffrey Claydon Judges' Special Award, which was presented jointly to Sophie Allison and Jim Harries.
UKTram congratulates all the winners, highly commended organisations and individuals recognised at this year's ceremony. The Global Light Rail Awards will return on 6th October 2027, with entries opening in April.
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