There can be little doubt that the sooner the new Stadler Tyne and Wear Metro trains are ready for service the better when you take a look at the latest punctuality figures which show the percentages continuing to fall.
Whilst not all can be put at the blame of the performance of the outgoing Metrocars the reliability and punctuality of services on the network is showing no signs of improvement and in fact it is continuing to get worse as each poster is released and posted at stations.
The latest two posters to have been shown are (with the percentages being number of trains arriving on time – within 3 minutes late or 30 seconds early):
- 15th October to 11th November – 63% (previous four weeks 70%, same time in 2022 73%)
- 12th November to 9th December – 61% (same time in 2022 80%)
As is always the case with the posters now there is no context (or excuses!) for what has caused the performance to plummet even further.
Despite hopes – and claims in official meetings – that at least one of the new trains would run a short demonstration run before the end of the year this has not happened and 2023 will go down as a year when we have still been waiting for this to happen. Although, it has been reported in the local media that daytime testing may be commencing within the next few weeks.