Testing of the Stadler built trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro may seem to have stalled but that hasn’t stopped two more units being delivered – the first to arrive in the northeast in 2024. 555 001 and 555 020 arrived in the early hours of Friday 19th April.
As with the previous deliveries the two came across from mainline Europe – all of the trains are being built by Sradler in Switzerland – by rail via the Channel Tunnel. They go via Dollands Moor, Wembley and York with the final stretch seeing two Rail Adventure HSTs trip them as far as the Network Rail/Tyne and Wear Metro border from where they are moved to Gosforth Depot.
The arrival of these two means that there are now seven of the total order of 46 which have made it to the northeast. There have been overnight test runs take place across the majority of the network but their appearance on daytime tests has not yet been seen, although it is hoped that this won’t be too far away.
The entry into service of the first of these trains is delayed (it had been due last year) but a few issues in testing has meant the project has been delayed.
In total 46 of the trains are on order from Stadler. Described as “state of the art” they include many modern features and will help the Metro be more environmentally friendly. Whereas the current Metrocars run in pairs to provide capacity these are fully walk-through trains which will be able to work on their own to give the same capacity.