A team of staff from Nexus have recently headed over to Switzerland to take a look at Stadler’s St Margrethen plant where the new fleet of trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro are set to be constructed with the first due to arrive in the northeast at the end of 2022. The 8,500 square metre plant was only opened two years ago and is said to be one of the most state of the art manufacturing facilities in Europe.
46 trains are due to be built by Stadler with the aim of replacing the current fleet of ageing Metrocars by 2024. The first is due to be delivered – by rail – to the Tyne and Wear Metro at the tail end of 2022 with the first still scheduled to be in service by July 2023.
Work has already commenced on the new trains will full assembly of the fleet just 12 weeks away.
Neil Blagburn, Metro Development Director, was one of those who got to visit the factory: “It was brilliant to get a first look at Stadler’s latest manufacturing facility, and its separate testing and commissioning facilities over in Switzerland, where the new Metro trains will be getting built and commissioned.
“We got the chance to see all of the assembly stages in action within the plant, with aluminium body shells entering at one side and high quality fully assembled trains of all shapes and sizes leaving at the other for customers around the world. We also visited the testing and commissioning sites and saw first-hand the rigorous processes which ensure the trains leave the factory as a fully finished article.
“Being there in person made it easy to visualise the new Metro trains moving through those same production lines less than three months from now.
“I’m delighted to say that that we remain on course to get the first train in the region at the end of next year and we still expect that the first one to be in passenger service in July 2023. Thanks to the efforts of the teams in Nexus and Stadler, no days have been lost due to the pandemic.
“The visit to the Stadler factory brought home just how close we are now to the start of the most tangible stage of the fleet replacement programme. The new Metro trains will transform the Tyne and Wear Metro for customers and secure the network’s long-term future.”