If you were to give a review to the Tyne and Wear Metro in 2019 it would probably read “must try harder” as once more a section of overhead wire has come down causing disruption to services – all this happening in the lead up to the damaging strike due on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st December.
This time approximately 300 metres of overhead came down between Regent Centre and Wansbeck Road shortly after 2300 on Wednesday 18th December. This led to a suspension of the service between South Gosforth and the Airport with no trains able to run between the two throughout Thursday 19th December as repairs continued. A train in the area became entangled in the overhead when it came down and this also had to be removed before the repairs could take place in earnest.
They will have a full extra two days to complete the repairs as despite last minute talks it has been confirmed that the two day strike will be going ahead. This will mean that no trains at all will run on the Tyne and Wear Metro network on either Friday 20th and Saturday 21st December, two of the busiest days of the year. Nexus will, however, be taking advantage of the closure to complete maintenance work on these two days, which should mean that by Sunday 22nd December the overhead issue is resolved but that is scant consolation for those who try to regularly use the network.