(13 Jan 2016, 11:11 am)Davie wrote Not being funny here; why is it people say the 82/82A are unreliable, but usually when I see them they are on time?

I believe Lee kept saying that it was always late and it escalated from there.

(13 Jan 2016, 4:08 pm)DanPicken wrote I believe Lee kept saying that it was always late and it escalated from there.

Oh well then say no more. I think I've the 82/82A late twice, it was only by a couple of minutes and iirc, both had wheelchairs on.

(13 Jan 2016, 12:33 am)Bus_User wrote How is it an farce Dan? What can you do when the OHL failed? There must be a reason why its always seems to be between Pelaw and Brockley where it fails yet elsewhere on the Sunderland line, it seems fine so surely it can't be the design of the OHL like someone suggested?

It needs to be investigated because it is too often and I like to think Nexus are involved in it and not just leaving it to NR.


I also hope if you do finally get a car you leave plenty of time for your journey to work as your likely to encounter delays when driving along the A194...

It's a farce because customers, for the second time in as many months, are facing a major outage spanning multiple days. On top of that, neither the owner of the system or the operator, have managed to implement suitable and a demand responsive contingency plan. To make matters even worse, the two of them together seem incapable of providing proper and effect communication.

Most passengers couldn't give a stuff what the reason is for outage and who is to blame. They simply want the service that they've paid a lot of money to have access to. Most would even settle for a suitable alternative, on the occasion that things do go wrong.

The problem is that it's not an occasional thing. It's every single day, and it's becoming apparent that the operator is out of it's depth.

(13 Jan 2016, 7:11 pm)Adrian wrote It's a farce because customers, for the second time in as many months, are facing a major outage spanning multiple days. On top of that, neither the owner of the system or the operator, have managed to implement suitable and a demand responsive contingency plan. To make matters even worse, the two of them together seem incapable of providing proper and effect communication.

Most passengers couldn't give a stuff what the reason is for outage and who is to blame. They simply want the service that they've paid a lot of money to have access to. Most would even settle for a suitable alternative, on the occasion that things do go wrong.

The problem is that it's not an occasional thing. It's every single day, and it's becoming apparent that the operator is out of it's depth.

Passengers get even more annoyed as the prices went up for a worse service.

(13 Jan 2016, 7:12 pm)DanPicken wrote Passengers get even more annoyed as the prices went up for a worse service.

Apparently bus operators haven't been accepting tickets either, according to that Facebook group? Someone in Metro must have made the call not to agree something for today. How nice of them.

(13 Jan 2016, 7:14 pm)Adrian wrote Apparently bus operators haven't been accepting tickets either, according to that Facebook group? Someone in Metro must have made the call not to agree something for today. How nice of them.

They won't as there's a 900 running now which will get them on providing the aren't disabled/have pram.

Would a reduced service help? It would mean that more spares were available, and more time could be dedicated for maintanance. It's obviously not as simple as that, but I reckon some of the Pelaw to South Gosforth "peak extras" could be sacrificed, as well as even just reducing the daytime service to every 15 minutes, rather than every 12. An extra few minutes to wait, but having more chance of a Metro actually arriving.

The problem is so noticeable to me yet NEXUS or Network Rail cant seem to identify the problem.
Like my post from earlier, All of the Infrastructure on the Pelaw to South Hylton ( Excluding Signals which are typical 4 Aspects ) is Non Standard on Network Rail and even the rest of the Tyne And Wear Metro Network too listed below :

OLE ( Wires and Gantrys that hold them ) Is non standard and the same type cant be found on any other system in the UK ( Including Heavy Rail ) and is used for TRAM LINES in Continental Europe NOT MAIN LINE RUNNING in the UK no one is familiar with the type and the Manufacturer is somewhere in Europe.

It is also different to the rest of the Metros Electric equipment ( Which sub types of this equipment can be found in the UK ), If all of the equipment was the same system wide there would rarely be Major Fualts constantly happening due to the National knowledge of the type.

Tyne & Wear Metro

Metro tickets can only be used on the replacement bus 900 or the Northern Rail service Sunderland to Newcastle.

Someone from DB Regio was on Radio Newcastle earlier, they stated the source of the fault had been identified and it was water in the OLE that was causing the issue.

The repairs were compounded with the line being live for Northern services.

Hopefully sorted by tomorrow.

(14 Jan 2016, 9:56 am)Andreos1 wrote Someone from DB Regio was on Radio Newcastle earlier, they stated the source of the fault had been identified and it was water in the OLE that was causing the issue.

The repairs were compounded with the line being live for Northern services.

Hopefully sorted by tomorrow.

Northern rail services have been operating all 3 days whilst metro has been off. So they haven't fixed it to enable the northern trains to operate

(14 Jan 2016, 12:06 pm)ifm001 wrote Northern rail services have been operating all 3 days whilst metro has been off. So they haven't fixed it to enable the northern trains to operate

Eh?
You have confused me. 

Who has said it was fixed so Northern could operate?

(14 Jan 2016, 12:06 pm)ifm001 wrote Northern rail services have been operating all 3 days whilst metro has been off. So they haven't fixed it to enable the northern trains to operate

Northern services use a seperate stretch of track between Newcastle and Pelaw - Also Northern don't require overhead wires.

The Metro will be off between Shiremoor and Tynemouth between Saturday 19th March to Saturday 2nd April for Modernisation. It will also be of March 5/6 and March 12/3 and July 23 to August 6. I believe the 2 weekends in March are Shiremoor to Tynemouth but the 15 days one in Summer is somewhere else. Info from Sort Out The Metro (Official) where someone got a letter from Metro/Nexus.

(24 Jan 2016, 4:57 pm)DanPicken wrote The Metro will be off between Shiremoor and Tynemouth between Saturday 19th March to Saturday 2nd April for Modernisation. It will also be of March 5/6 and March 12/3 and July 23 to August 6. I believe the 2 weekends in March are Shiremoor to Tynemouth but the 15 days one in Summer is somewhere else. Info from Sort Out The Metro (Official) where someone got a letter from Metro/Nexus.

That'll be fun for the passengers, wonder who'll operate the metro replacement.

Benton is closed and trains will not be stopping at this station until further notice. This is due to a problem with the power supply. We will update you once we have more information.

13 February 2016 - No trains St James - Wallsend 13, 14 February
No trains will run between St James and Wallsend all day on 13 and 14 February, to allow for modernisation work. A frequent replacement bus service 900 will be running in the affected area. Replacement bus stopping locations and timetables will be available soon. Please allow extra time for your journey. During the work Monument platform 3 and 4 will be closed.

Pallion is closed and trains will not be stopping at this station until further notice. This is due to a problem with the power supply. We will update you once we have more information.

(26 Jan 2016, 5:22 pm)DanPicken wrote Pallion is closed and trains will not be stopping at this station until further notice. This is due to a problem with the power supply. We will update you once we have more information.

Jesus, why don't they just renew the whole lot, nothing but trouble that line!

So it isn't just the overhead wires that have having issues. Its the platform equipment aswell (unless it is the overhead lines and is, for now just a 'dead' section)

(26 Jan 2016, 5:53 pm)Michael wrote Jesus, why don't they just renew the whole lot, nothing but trouble that line!

Errr No... Unless your willing to accept paying money for a line that opened just under 14 years ago... 

There does seem to be quite a few power supply problems(which don't affect the OHL, just the stations electrical equipment) lately, no idea the cause behind it but obviously the worse time of year for them to occur with the dark nights.

(26 Jan 2016, 10:45 pm)Bus_User wrote Errr No... Unless your willing to accept paying money for a line that opened just under 14 years ago... 

There does seem to be quite a few power supply problems(which don't affect the OHL, just the stations electrical equipment) lately, no idea the cause behind it but obviously the worse time of year for them to occur with the dark nights.

Err i meant the power supplies and stuff, not the track.

I don't think we'll find out the problem, they'll just deny it amd blame others like they do now...


New trains should be on the list next...which they won't be... they'll want to replace the track again... haha

(26 Jan 2016, 10:45 pm)Bus_User wrote Errr No... Unless your willing to accept paying money for a line that opened just under 14 years ago... 

There does seem to be quite a few power supply problems(which don't affect the OHL, just the stations electrical equipment) lately, no idea the cause behind it but obviously the worse time of year for them to occur with the dark nights.

We're likely to never find the cause behind power issues, given the sensitive nature of that information.

SR4 (which includes Pallion) was having power supply issues earlier today, and I'm wondering if that's caused some problems for the station later on.

(26 Jan 2016, 10:49 pm)Michael wrote Err i meant the power supplies and stuff, not the track.

I don't think we'll find out the problem, they'll just deny it amd blame others like they do now...


New trains should be on the list next...which they won't be... they'll want to replace the track again... haha

Well yes the track will need replacing otherwise you will risk of having speed restrictions all over the place otherwise giving just how old the track is in some parts of the system, especially on the North Tyneside side of the system hence the works that will go on this spring and summer. 

Obviously a new fleet of trains are currently being planned but unfortunately it will be down to the government whether they will approve plans for a fleet of new trains, and even if they do, it will still be many years before we see them into service and I think having them in service between 2023-25 is optimistic to say the least. 

Of course, a new fleet of trains should of been planned well before the system was privitised, it still annoys me that Mike Parker(director general of Nexus at the time) back in 2005 was more interested in too ambitious plans of street tram running mixed in with the current metro lines instead of planning on the current infrastructure. Of course if Project Orpheus was approved then maybe we would a fleet of new vehicles now but as I say, the plans were too ambitious, probably too costly and in my view a total waste of time.

(27 Jan 2016, 12:38 am)Bus_User wrote Well yes the track will need replacing otherwise you will risk of having speed restrictions all over the place otherwise giving just how old the track is in some parts of the system, especially on the North Tyneside side of the system hence the works that will go on this spring and summer. 

Obviously a new fleet of trains are currently being planned but unfortunately it will be down to the government whether they will approve plans for a fleet of new trains, and even if they do, it will still be many years before we see them into service and I think having them in service between 2023-25 is optimistic to say the least. 

Of course, a new fleet of trains should of been planned well before the system was privitised, it still annoys me that Mike Parker(director general of Nexus at the time) back in 2005 was more interested in too ambitious plans of street tram running mixed in with the current metro lines instead of planning on the current infrastructure. Of course if Project Orpheus was approved then maybe we would a fleet of new vehicles now but as I say, the plans were too ambitious, probably too costly and in my view a total waste of time.

NEPO have released details of a new Nexus tender this morning.
'Framework agreement for the consultancy support for the Metro concession in relation to rolling stock, economic an operational requirements'.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sortoutt...935289193/

"At the meeting whilst Tobyn Hughes accepted the standard of metro performance was not as it should be he said he believed issues were exaggerated by a small number who posted issues on social media."

An interesting summary of the meeting, but I find the comments from Tobyn Hughes to be incredibly arrogant. I wonder how many users of the Metro system would agree with him, given that most are actually commenting on failures or outages that Metro report?

21 February 2016 - No trains Airport to South Gosforth
No trains will run between Airport and South Gosforth all day on Sunday 21 February, to allow for modernisation work. A frequent replacement bus service 900 will be running in the affected area. Replacement bus stopping points and timetables will be available shortly. At Callerton Parkway the bus stop outside of the station will not be used, replacement services will call at the stops on the B6918 road. Your journey will take longer so please allow for additonal travel time. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

28 February 2016 - No trains Airport to South Gosforth
No trains will run between Airport and South Gosforth all day on Sunday 28 February, to allow for modernisation work. A frequent replacement bus service 900 will be running in the affected area. Replacement bus stopping points and timetables will be available shortly. At Callerton Parkway the bus stop outside of the station will not be used, replacement services will call at the stops on the B6918 road. Your journey will take longer so please allow for additonal travel time. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

19 March 2016 - 15 day Major Line Closure Tynemouth - Shiremoor
No trains will run between Tynemouth and Shiremoor from Saturday 19 March - 2 April to allow for a major programme of track replacement work. During the closure a frequent replacement bus service will be running in the affected area. Replacement bus timetables and stopping points will be available soon. Your journey will take longer so please allow for extra travel time. Metro services will resume on Sunday 3 April. We're sorry for any inconvenience.

Off an hour ago:


There are delays systemwide due to obstruction on the line.
Delays of up to 15 mins between Airport and South Hylton
Delays of up to 15 mins between St James and South Shields 
Delays of up to 15 mins between South Gosforth and Pelaw

(26 Jan 2016, 10:45 pm)Bus_User wrote Errr No... Unless your willing to accept paying money for a line that opened just under 14 years ago... 

There does seem to be quite a few power supply problems(which don't affect the OHL, just the stations electrical equipment) lately, no idea the cause behind it but obviously the worse time of year for them to occur with the dark nights.

My opinion is the non standard type of OLE that's only used on Tramways in Mainland Europe.

(26 Jan 2016, 10:49 pm)Michael wrote Err i meant the power supplies and stuff, not the track.

I don't think we'll find out the problem, they'll just deny it amd blame others like they do now...


New trains should be on the list next...which they won't be... they'll want to replace the track again... haha

Power supplies will not be replaced for the certain future unless reliability gets worse than it currently is.

Though the majority of track between Pelaw and Sunderland will be life expired in 2 years, Having been new in 1978 though a section between Pelaw and Fellgate was replaced in 2014.

(29 Jan 2016, 7:59 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote My opinion is the non standard type of OLE that's only used on Tramways in Mainland Europe.



Power supplies will not be replaced for the certain future unless reliability gets worse than it currently is.

Though the majority of track between Pelaw and Sunderland will be life expired in 2 years, Having been new in 1978 though a section between Pelaw and Fellgate was replaced in 2014.

Wonder if they'll replace that then, it might take a while but it'll be worth it... as long as they get new trains to