Was on 4040 and 4002 today. 4002 is now in the standard livery

No Metro services system wide this morning due to power fault:

https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/no-me...ower-fault

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...l-13879987

Some fares expected to rise

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...l-13879987

Some fares expected to rise

While fares for under 18s will be down to£1 and capped at £2for the day with a pop card
https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/metro...-and-under

While fares for under 18s will be down to £1 and capped at £2for the day with a pop card
https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/metro...-and-under

That's good news - encourage youngsters to develop the habit - next generation.

While fares for under 18s will be down to£1 and capped at £2for the day with a pop card
https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/metro...-and-under

Aye, there was something in the link I posted about that too.
Introducing a Green POP card as well.

Monument station is now (temporarily) inaccessible, unless you can use escalators. That ancient lift is inadequate at the best of times.
https://twitter.com/My_Metro/status/930841805746294784

Monument station is now (temporarily) inaccessible, unless you can use escalators. That ancient lift is inadequate at the best of times.
https://twitter.com/My_Metro/status/930841805746294784

I don't even think you can use escalators without going into Fenwicks.

I don't even think you can use escalators without going into Fenwicks.

No, direct entry to the station without steps of any sort is much worse than it used to be. There used to be a lift in Monument mall, while it existed. The only other accessible entrance was the informal public toilet behind the old travel centre, leading into the ground floor of Eldon Square.

In this day and age, you would have thought there would be some attempt to make the most central metro station in the city the most accessible but, no, it's taken steps backwards in the past 20 years. The boys can't use escalators at all and I can't always use down escalators because I get dizzy on them (a combination of the movement, glare and moving stripes - I even get vertigo looking over balconies at moving escalators) so now that the stairs at Haymarket are gone, we can't use that station, when it's so busy that the queues for the lift are intolerable to the boys or the lift is out of order. When Central Station was closed a lot, we just changed onto a bus at Heworth, if we were coming in from Sunderland. Now we just get the X24 from Sunderland or get off at Central or St James, depending which direction we're coming from.

New rolling stock promised in the budget.

New rolling stock promised in the budget.

Good, did they say a date for them?

New rolling stock promised in the budget.

Or certainly a big chunk of the funding anyway. 

It will be interesting to see what conditions are attached (franchise of system to DB was a previous proviso for funding).

Edit: https://twitter.com/BBCRichardMoss/statu...0650209280

NECA to make up balance.

New rolling stock promised in the budget.

More info on the NEXUS site:

https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/fundi...sage-nexus

Or certainly a big chunk of the funding anyway. 

It will be interesting to see what conditions are attached (franchise of system to DB was a previous proviso for funding).

"4.57 Tyne & Wear Metro – The government will invest £337 million from the NPIF to replace
the Tyne & Wear Metro’s nearly 40-year-old rolling stock with modern energy-effcient trains.
The new fleet will cut running costs while boosting performance and reliability for the 38 million
passengers that use the system annually. "

So specifically for the new rolling stock.

"4.57 Tyne & Wear Metro – The government will invest £337 million from the NPIF to replace
the Tyne & Wear Metro’s nearly 40-year-old rolling stock with modern energy-effcient trains.
The new fleet will cut running costs while boosting performance and reliability for the 38 million
passengers that use the system annually. "

So specifically for the new rolling stock.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...p-13938410

No PFI by the looks of it either!

From the Sunderland Echo:

It will issue a formal notice in January, inviting firms to tender for the contract, followed in April by a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, enabling it to evaluate the suitability of the bidders in relation to their technical knowledge, experience, capability and financial and economic standing, before an invitation to negotiate to set out the terms of the tender process is issued in July. Tenders will be submitted and considered between June and September 2019 and a contract is expected to be issued in February 2020, with the first of the new rolling stock to be delivered late in 2021. Replacement of the entire fleet of 84 trains is expected to take another two to three years.

Read more at: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/chan...-1-8871193

From the Sunderland Echo:

It will issue a formal notice in January, inviting firms to tender for the contract, followed in April by a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, enabling it to evaluate the suitability of the bidders in relation to their technical knowledge, experience, capability and financial and economic standing, before an invitation to negotiate to set out the terms of the tender process is issued in July. Tenders will be submitted and considered between June and September 2019 and a contract is expected to be issued in February 2020, with the first of the new rolling stock to be delivered late in 2021. Replacement of the entire fleet of 84 trains is expected to take another two to three years.

Read more at: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/chan...-1-8871193

Is it not 90 Metro cars?

Yes, but they are so unreliable that metro have to have a high percentage of those in for maintenance at any one time. That won’t be necessary for the new stock, at least in theory. It’s actually unlikely that there will be 84 new trains, in any case. They never run in single car formation and there was more than a hint in the NEXUS new stock feedback bumph that bidders would be encouraged to look at providing one single unit to save on wasted cab space to help with capacity.

No trains Wallsend - North Shields due to problem with the overhead line. Bus replacement service, the number 900, calling at or near to all stations between Wallsend and North Shields. GNE are accepting Metro tickets on Bus services 1,11 operate between Wallsend - North Shields.


Go North East are still accepting Metro tickets in the affected area. Bus services 1,11,42,42a operate between Wallsend and North Shields.

4002/4040 were out on the Green Line Today.

https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/nexus...th-shields

NEXUS have announced they are to build a training and maintenance centre on the site of the sidings beyond the current South Shields station.  As well as being the training centre for staff, it will also have room for stabling (and I presume light maintenance) of metro trains.

https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/nexus...th-shields

NEXUS have announced they are to build a training and maintenance centre on the site of the sidings beyond the current South Shields station.  As well as being the training centre for staff, it will also have room for stabling (and I presume light maintenance) of metro trains.

I suspect that they're all the more keen after the chaos, the other weekend, due to being unable to get any trains out of the gosforth depot. Don't have all your electric trains in one basket, or something.

Sunderland to oppose seating plans for new metro carriages.
https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/sund...881850/amp

Sunderland Council opposes everything just for the sake of opposing. Thankfully, the other councils disagree.

Sunderland Council opposes everything just for the sake of opposing. Thankfully, the other councils disagree.

I think it’s a fair point, linear seating is less comfortable for all involved, a hybrid version would be better. 

Light rail vehicles are generally quite nippy at pulling away - with front/back seating all this results in is the passenger being pushed back/forward in their seat. Linear seating results in a side-lean into your neighbouring passengers and isn’t particularly comfortable being repeated for every stop to Sunderland.


Despite Metro’s statement, do any comparable systems outside London use linear seating? Certainly Metrolink, Blackpool, Supertram & Nottingham don’t.

Sunderland Council opposes everything just for the sake of opposing. Thankfully, the other councils disagree.

How long is the average trip in the other council areas versus the Sunderland Council area?

I can see where they are coming from. The punter travelling from Sunderland - Newcastle won't want to stand/rest their bum due to the duration of a trip to Tyneside.
Gateshead to Newcastle?
Outlying suburbs to Newcastle?
Same for North and South Tyneside.

I wondered elsewhere, if there could be two different types of stock and a redesign of the line system to accomodate those travelling longer distances.
Appreciate this may reduce fleet flexibility somewhat, but the end result, could be a Metro R&OW thread!

Except that wasn’t the argument Sunderland used. They made ridiculous claims about looking out the window and feeling claustrophobic.

Except that wasn’t the argument Sunderland used. They made ridiculous claims about looking out the window and feeling claustrophobic.

Aye, it was part of their argument.

Part of it was about the window. The other included the standing factor and less seats.

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/sund...881850/amp

New Metro trains WILL have Tube-style seating after decision by transport bosses

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nort...e-13976713

Having used the Tube in London back in January on a few occasions I am definitely not a fan of linear seating, would rather not have someones arse in my face, surely having a seating layout similar to the trams in Edinburgh would be more beneficial as that maximises seating capacity, standing space, luggage and accessibility for the elderley, disabled and pushchairs.