Award for £75 million Tram Train link one year on from delayed launch

Michael Douglas of Network Rail with SYPTE, Network Rail, Stagecoach Supertram and the Department for Transport representatives.

The link from Parkgate to Sheffield picked up the Team of the Year prize at the Global Light Rail Awards a year after making its first journey.

And it was also highly commended in the category for Project of the Year over 50 million Euros - ironically, an award it was only eligible for because its initial £15 million projected cost swelled to £75 million.

Light rail minister Baroness Vere alluded to issues with cost and punctuality - the Tram Train scheme was repeatedly delayed \_ but said she was “delighted to see such a well-deserving team win this award”.

She added: “The Tram Train has certainly faced its fair share of challenges but since it opened last October, supported by over £50 million of funding from the Department for Transport, it has proved extremely popular with passengers.”

Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis said the link, in which specialised vehicles run on railway lines and tram tracks, “was not only a huge success in its own right but could be used as a blueprint for similar schemes across the UK”.

Stephen Edwards, director of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, which worked on the project with Network Rail and Stagecoach Supertram, said the award was “testament to the huge efforts made by partners to ensure the ground-breaking Tram Train technology will bring long lasting benefits to our region and to the UK’s rail industry”.

The Tram Train concept is being piloted in South Yorkshire so that the rail industry can understand and assess the technical issues involved in such operations.

If it is deemed successful, it could open the way for similar schemes to be introduced elsewhere.