Two completely separate power failures caused problems for light rail systems in the UK in late September with both the Tyne and Wear Metro and London Trams impacted. Both were reported at their respective depots but whilst for the Metro they managed to start services within a few hours it was a very different story on London Trams.
The Tyne and Wear Metro was impacted by a power failure at the “Stadler depot” on Tuesday 23rd September 2025, which initially meant that no services were running anywhere on the network. As the morning progressed did start to enter service although the sections between Pelaw and South Shields, Pelaw and South Hylton, and Monkseaton to St James remained closed. This left a reduced frequency operating Airport-Pelaw and Monkseaton-Pelaw.
From shortly before 1000 a service resumed on the full network although initially this was at a much reduced frequency (trains every 30 minutes at one stage). From around 1430 a full service was resumed.
In a statement Nexus said: “Metro services have been disrupted today, Tuesday 23 September, due to a power supply issue at Stadler’s Gosforth Metro Depot.
“There was an issue with a power supply cable at the depot which impacted our ability to get trains into customer service from 0500 this morning. We’re sorry for the inconvenience this has caused customers.
“We were able to get some Metro services out this morning using our new trains that can run on battery power.”
Then two days later on Thursday 25th September it was London Trams’ depot at Therapia Lane where a power failure was reported. This was so severe that no trams could leave the depot and indeed no service ran at all during the day. Things did resume again the following day although an additional power supply issue at Addington Village meant trams could not run from there to New Addington. And the problems for that section of line continued for several days with UK Power Networks having to complete work to allow a full service to resume once more.