Its all go on the Tyne and Wear Metro at the moment with trains going for scrap and entering service (almost) in equal measures and now it has been confirmed that the sixth of the new trains has carried passengers for the first time.
555 003 is the latest to enter service (coming just five days after sister 555 004 did the same) with it carrying its first passengers on 17th March 2025. It was allocated to the Airport to South Hylton service, on the usual diagram that the new Stadler built trains are used on.
555 003 had been delivered to the network on 28th February 2023 (when they were still coming in ones instead of the more usual double deliveries we have seen more recently).
On most weekdays there are two of the new trains in service (one on the Airport-South Hylton route and one of the St James-South Shields route) as part of the phased introduction of the fleet. There will eventually be 46 of the trains built and delivered to northeast England, 15 have arrived so far.
Those which have been used in service so far now are 555 002–555 005, 555 020 and 555 021. Also delivered are 555 001, 555 006–555 009, 555 013, 555 015, 555 027 and 555 028.