The judges were extremely impressed with the high standard of entries, noting that it shows “industry partners are sharing best practice and expertise as we all look to bring down costs, improve safety and sustainability and deliver the best possible passenger experience.”

The judges’ comments for the high commendations were as follows:

Technical Innovation of the Year

“Broken rails can be catastrophic, and there has been a significant spike in instances of embedded rail breaks across the UK – disturbingly as some of the rail is no more than 5 years old. Vast amounts of time and resource has been spent on broken rails on the main line railway, but far less so on those used by tram operators.

Rail breaks can seriously compromise safety, cause major disruption and cost a fortune to sort out. One system has experienced 20 incidents in recent years, with a repair bill running to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The good news is that 2 British experts in metallurgy are tackling this issue head-on. Their research into the causes – and finding longer-lasting solutions through industry collaboration – has been described as ground-breaking, and ultimately a major benefit to the industry as a whole.”

Supplier of the Year

“Talk to those at the sharp end of maintaining tramways and light rail systems and our first honouree can’t come recommended highly enough – so we’ll join them.

Although most know them as a track supplier, where they are driving real change is in their research and development into tackling some of the industry’s trickiest track-related issues to make railways of all kinds safer and more efficient.
source= https://railway-news.com/british-steel-gains-light-rail-awards/