Now in their thirteenth year and well-known as the industry’s ‘Oscars’, the Global Light Rail Awards celebrate excellence and innovation within the global light and urban rail sectors.

MPT have been developing the UK’s largest light rail scheme in Manchester for over a decade and were presented with awards in the Best Environmental and Sustainability Initiative and the Technical Innovation of the Year (infrastructure) categories at this year’s awards night.

Judges for both categories said they were impressed by the high standard of the nominations. In the Best Environmental and Sustainability Initiative category, MPT was commended for its ‘war on waste’. The judges said that ‘many of the 30 initiatives listed in this submission deserved an award in their own right’ and that the entry was ‘outstanding, and a lesson to all in how to build a tramway to the highest quality, whilst also exploiting every possible opportunity for sustainability’. 

MPT’s award for Technical Innovation of the Year (infrastructure) was a joint submission with Mott MacDonald and was praised by the judges for ‘perfectly highlighting the importance of stakeholder relations during the construction of a new light rail route’.

MPT’s Trafford Park Line project leader, Andy Smith, said: “It’s great to be recognised by the Light Rail Industry for all the hard work and commitment that the MPT Trafford Park Line team has put into the project. The team has been committed to delivering the prestigious project whilst maximising environmental benefits and building positive relationships along the way, with the local community. Winning Technical Innovation of the Year with our design partner Mott MacDonald showcases some of the technical expertise that we have within both partners.”

UK Light Rail Minister, Baroness Vere, said: “Light rail is a fantastic, environmentally-friendly way of getting around and I congratulate this year’s winners.”