Amey and Transport for Wales have received two major honours for the £1.5bn Core Valley Lines Transformation Programme at the 2026 British Construction & Infrastructure Awards.
The programme won the Sir John Armitt Prize, the awards’ flagship accolade, as well as the Transport Project Award. The awards, organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers and New Civil Engineer, recognise infrastructure projects that deliver benefits for clients, stakeholders and society.
Rail upgrades across South Wales
The programme is transforming 170km of railway across the South Wales Valleys through electrification, digital signalling, station improvements, new stations and new trains.
Electrification of the Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare, Treherbert, Cardiff and City lines is intended to support cleaner, faster and more reliable services. New trains on the Rhymney line are improving comfort and accessibility, while some journeys can now be made without changing trains in Cardiff.
Seven new passing loops are enabling services on key Valley lines to increase from two to four trains per hour. On the Treherbert line, a digital signalling system has replaced a 100-year-old token exchange system, with the aim of improving reliability.
The judging panel described the programme as “a benchmark project for the challenge ahead for Great British Railways.”
Partners recognised
Peter Anderson, managing director at Amey, said: “To receive two of the industry’s leading awards is a fantastic recognition of what has been achieved through the Core Valley Lines Transformation Programme. This has been a hugely ambitious and complex programme, and its success reflects the strength of the collaboration between Amey, Transport for Wales and our wider delivery partners.”
He added: “What makes me particularly proud is the difference the programme is making beyond the railway itself. By improving connections between communities and opening access to employment, education and opportunity, we are creating infrastructure that will deliver benefits across South Wales for years to come.”
Dan Tipper, chief infrastructure officer at Transport for Wales, said the awards recognised the programme’s “ambition, collaboration and dedication”. He said bringing together infrastructure maintenance, enhancements, new rolling stock and rail operations as a single enterprise had been fundamental to its progress.
Tipper added that a programme of this complexity could not be delivered by one organisation or discipline alone, and said its impact would be felt by passengers and communities “for generations to come”.