Nexus’ Head of Maintenance Delivery, Phil Kirkland, who managed the construction of the original Tyne and Wear Metro network between 1979 and 1984 is to retire after 47 years of service to the railway industry. Phil, who is currently in his second spell on the Metro will leave his role in November.
Phil said: “I’m enormously proud to have played such a big part in the history of the Tyne and Wear Metro.It was an exciting and a hugely challenging project to work on. It was something that transformed public transport in our region. I think that I’m one of the few staff left who worked on the original construction project in the late 70s and early 80s. I oversaw the many miles of track installations that were needed in order to make the Metro become a reality. My fondest memory was seeing all of that work come to fruition when the first test trains started operating on the system. It was a vast project. There was acrimony too, at one point there were fears the government of the time was going to pull the plug on the funding, but we got there in the end.”
After being in charge of the construction phase, Phil left in 1984 but then returned in 2007 to head up infrastructure maintenance, which involves managing Metro’s orange army of workers looking after the tracks, overhead and signalling systems.
Having worked in the industry for 47 years we are sure Phil will enjoy his well earnt retirement!