The Global Light Rail Awards is an annual event organised in the City of London by the publishers of the monthly international magazine, Tramways and Urban Transit. It is the industry’s flagship awards ceremony and recognises excellence and innovation in the light rail sector all over the world. With 27 networks worldwide, Keolis is a global leader in tram operations - a smart and sustainable mobility solution which brings real benefits to the cities and communities we serve. So it's a real source of pride to receive recognition for the teams operating and maintaining our networks at #GLRA21.

This year, Keolis Lyon, which operates a large multimodal network in south-eastern France, were the winners in the ‘Best Environmental and Sustainability Initiative’ category, based on their multi-faceted approach to reducing energy consumption across all areas of their business. The jury was very impressed by the collective engagement in all departments and the positive results and tangible impacts delivered. The most impressive achievements included a 25% reduction in energy consumption across all buildings stock and a 15% reduction on the tram network.

Keolis Hyderabad, which operates the metro service in Hyderabad, a large city in south-eastern Indian, also notched up top place in the ‘Team of the Year’ category, for its concerted outstanding pandemic response that regained customers’ trust and brought them back to public transport. It was also praised for its outreach work with local communities to support and enhance people’s lives.

KeolisAmey Docklands (KAD), Keolis’ subsidiary which operates London's automated Docklands Light Railway (DLR), were winners of the coveted ‘Operator of the Year’ award, having previously won the same honour in 2019. The award underlines the DLR’s consistent excellence in its performance as a network. Another UK subsidiary – KeolisAmey Metrolink (KAM) – was highly commended in the same category. 

KAM was also highly commended in the ‘Significant Safety Initiative’ and ‘Rising Star’ categories, in which Anna Barraud was singled out for her tremendous dedication in delivering both the Leadership Development Programme and Driver Trainer Programme despite the challenging circumstances created by the pandemic.

Other Keolis subsidiaries were also recognised. Yarra Trams, managed by Keolis Downer in Australia, was highly commended in the ‘Vision of the year’ category and Keolis Nottingham that operates Nottingham Trams was voted ‘Project of the Year <€50M’. RKH Qitarat, a Keolis joint venture in Qatar, also walked away with a highly commended honour for ‘Outstanding Engineering Achievement’ in recognition of the technical improvements made to the Doha automated metro network.