Why Britain needs Great British Light Rail, and why Manchester and Coventry show what’s possible

Alistair Gordon, CEO Keolis UK, Ireland, Middle East and India, on the need for Great British Light Rail

This article appeared in the February 2026 issue of Rail.

Across Britain, the case for light rail has never been clearer.

Our towns and cities are crying out for transport that is clean, efficient and capable of supporting growth without the congestion, emissions or space demands of widespread car use. While buses and active travel are essential, they alone can’t deliver the kind of transformative, long-term change our urban areas need.

That’s why I believe the time has come for a new national guiding mind – Great British Light Rail (GBLR). This dedicated body would provide the strategy and coordination needed to make light rail a central pillar of Britain’s transport future.

At Keolis, we’ve seen what’s possible when cities commit to light rail with ambition. We operate three of the UK’s most iconic and high-performing systems: Manchester Metrolink, Nottingham Express Transit and the Docklands Light Railway. Together, they carry around two-thirds of all light rail passengers nationwide and are evidence enough of light rail’s power to connect communities and unlock regeneration.

Now is the time to take these successes and scale them. But to do so, we need to empower our leaders with the clarity and stability to think in decades, not just spending cycles.

The case for a guiding mind

Light rail today has no national owner, inconsistent powers and uncertain funding.

GBLR would change that. It wouldn’t centralise control, but coordinate it, enabling local authorities, transport bodies and industry partners to plan long-term and deliver with confidence. It would support devolution, while providing national clarity to unlock investment and skills development.

This means publishing a rolling ten-year pipeline to help manufacturers and councils plan ahead. It means establishing a Light Rail Division within Great British Railways (GBR) or placing a statutory duty on the body to support local schemes. It also means ring-fenced innovation funding that spans decades, not just a political term, and clear rules around who pays for what from overruns to renewals. GBLR should also support the exploration of fiscal tools like congestion charging, workplace parking levies and value capture to let local authorities reinvest growth into infrastructure.

Manchester as a blueprint

Manchester Metrolink shows what’s possible when cities think long-term. It carried over 45 million passengers last year and continues to grow in scale and impact. Its success reflects strong alignment between transport and regeneration goals.

Working with Transport for Greater Manchester and the Bee Network, we’re helping to deliver more coordinated journeys, simpler fares and higher service standards across the region. It’s a model others can follow, one where the public sets the vision and operators deliver with precision and in unison.

Metrolink also invests in people through apprenticeships and youth engagement, helping ensure that the benefits of mobility reach every part of the community. But Manchester doesn’t just show what’s possible. It highlights what’s missing – a national framework to ensure this kind of success is repeatable, not exceptional.

Learning from abroad

Elsewhere, cities aren’t waiting. In Dijon, a city smaller than many in the UK, a fully integrated tram network transformed urban life in just a few years. Car use dropped dramatically and is projected to fall further by 2030.

In Bordeaux and Doha, light rail systems have reshaped connections between housing, workplaces and key public services and were delivered quickly and affordably. These cities show that transformation is possible with the right vision and governance.

Britain has the skills and the demand but lacks the mechanism to deliver consistently.

Reforming the rules

Leadership is essential but so is planning reform. Right now, the approvals process is slow, costly and vulnerable to legal delays. That deters investment and drains momentum.

A Light Rail Planning Framework, similar to that used for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, would help accelerate delivery. Statutory timelines and clearer responsibilities could ensure decisions are made within 18 months.

While economic appraisals are meant to account for health, carbon savings, land value uplift and accessibility, too much weight is still placed on journey time savings. Making Public Value Accounting the standard would rebalance appraisals and support stronger, more realistic business cases.

Don’t forget very light rail

Innovation also offers new opportunities. Coventry’s Very Light Rail (VLR) pilot is showing that systems can be delivered for £10 million per kilometre, a fraction of conventional costs. Prefabricated track and battery-powered vehicles make it ideal for medium-sized towns and fast-growing suburbs.

With the right regulation, VLR can offer high-quality ride experience, lower lifetime costs and quicker delivery than other modes. But the framework for certification and risk-sharing must evolve to support this potential.

We now wait for the deployment and learnings from the demonstrator project recently approved by Coventry City Council.

A national endeavour

Our goal must be a national network of light and very light rail that connects people to opportunity, reduces car dependency and helps deliver net zero.

We have the demand. We have the local ambition and skills. What we need is the structure to deliver at scale and Great British Light Rail can be that structure.