Commuters on the Tyne and Wear Metro have continued to suffer with a reduced service as the aging “life-expired” original Metrocars continue to struggle with reliability. Although it has reached the stage where it isn’t a big surprise to regular travellers when some services are cancelled, things became more newsworthy on Tuesday 26th November when a quarter of trainsets were unavailable in the morning rush-hour.
The BBC picked up the news that seven trainsets were removed from service between 0500 and 0720 – during this time there should be 28 sets in operation meaning that it was indeed a quarter of the total service which was not running.
A spokesman from Nexus was quoted by the BBC as saying: “The ageing fleet is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and repair, exacerbated by a shortage of spare parts and cold weather. We remain focused on getting the best possible performance from our current trains while transitioning to the new fleet.”
They added that the trains were mainly suffering with power and brake faults. As the day continued more trains were able to return to service and a normal timetable was due to run again from Wednesday 27th November.
To prove the point that the service currently remains unreliable, the latest performance poster has shown that in the four weeks between 13th October and 9th November 67% of trains were reported as being on time. This was a fall of 15% from the previous four weeks but an improvement from the same four weeks in 2023 which was 63%.
As the wait goes on for the entry into service of the new Stadler trains – which continue to be tested and drivers trained – the Metrocars will need to struggle on and try to provide a reliable service for the long-suffering commuters who use it to go about their business.
Testing and driver training on the new trains continues. This is 555 003 at Pelaw. (Photograph by Trevor Hall, 25th November 2024)