It looks as if the Tyne and Wear Metro isn’t a fan of the clocks going back as ever since they changed there seems to have been issue after issue affecting the service from the overhead coming down, trains not being available to run peak services, a bridge strike, poor rail conditions and heavy passenger loadings. And all that happened in just two days at the start of this week.
The most high profile incident happened during the afternoon of Monday 28th October when the overhead came down in the Hebburn area leading to no service able to run between Monument and South Shields/East Boldon. Engineering teams worked through the night to fix this problem and after safety checks a full route was able to run from the start of service the next day. However…
Tuesday 29th October didn’t exactly go according to plan either with a number of small issues combining to make it a day to really forget for anyone wishing to travel by the Tyne and Wear Metro. Issues included:
* Train availability leading to four morning peak extras able to run
* A failed train at Regent Centre leading to 15 minute delays
* A bridge strike at Fellgate leading to a service suspension between Pelaw and Brockley Whins
* Low rail adhesion and heavy passenger loading meant trains couldn’t run to the usual timetable in the evening peak
All in all not the best couple of days for the Metro. At a time when Nexus are publicly saying they are struggling financially as a result of lower passenger revenue (more on this story to come in a future update) combined incidents such as these aren’t exactly going to reverse their fortunes.