Tyne & Wear Metro Fleet Replacement: Awarded to Stadler

[hacman]

The two sidings on what was the north-west curve were removed about 10 years ago, along with the associated S&C. Plain-lining the area was a cost reduction exercise, since the sidings were only used by a handful of services a day since the removal of the red line - most trains run to Monkseaton now.

The idea was that trains needing to reverse could simply cross over the facing points to the west of the station and use the Newcastle-bound platform.

What was the goods sidings to the west of the station were still in place long after Metro opened - it was referred to as Benton permanent way depot and was used both during the construction of Metro and for a time afterwards. They were removed in the late 90s, roughly around the same time as the south-west curve was lifted, as it was all deemed surplus to requirements.

As far as I know, the land for the north-west curve has never been successfully sold. The south-west curve land was at one time owned by Newcastle Airport or one of their holding companies, as they have a long-held desire to return heavy rail services to the airport. I'm not sure who owns it now, but protecting it is a good idea.

 

[DustyBin]

The two sidings on what was the north-west curve were removed about 10 years ago, along with the associated S&C. Plain-lining the area was a cost reduction exercise, since the sidings were only used by a handful of services a day since the removal of the red line - most trains run to Monkseaton now.

The idea was that trains needing to reverse could simply cross over the facing points to the west of the station and use the Newcastle-bound platform.

What was the goods sidings to the west of the station were still in place long after Metro opened - it was referred to as Benton permanent way depot and was used both during the construction of Metro and for a time afterwards. They were removed in the late 90s, roughly around the same time as the south-west curve was lifted, as it was all deemed surplus to requirements.

As far as I know, the land for the north-west curve has never been successfully sold. The south-west curve land was at one time owned by Newcastle Airport or one of their holding companies, as they have a long-held desire to return heavy rail services to the airport. I'm not sure who owns it now, but protecting it is a good idea.

Interesting, thanks!

 

[sh24]

Had an Airport-Central station trip on one of these today. Super impressed, far nicer than the Merseyrail 777. Lots and lots of positive comments from normal passengers when they boarded too. Had forgotten what a great little network the T&W Metro is.

 

[7522]

555015 on T123 today.

 

[marsker]

I saw on a press article a few days ago that Metro has 76 drivers trained on the new sets. That's only 38% of them.
Is this a limiting factor in the speed of introduction?

 

[Wallsendmag]

Had my first ride on a new Metro yesterday 555003, very very bright when I got on at central. Not bad overall and very different to the old stock.

 

[northeast10]

I saw on a press article a few days ago that Metro has 76 drivers trained on the new sets. That's only 38% of them.
Is this a limiting factor in the speed of introduction?

No, plenty drivers trained to have a lot more 555 diagrams.

 

[DanNCL]

No 555s in service today. All 5 diagrams covered by Metrocars.

 

[hondafan1999]

No 555s in service today. All 5 diagrams covered by Metrocars.

Any reason why?

 

[DanNCL]

Any reason why?

There will be a reason but I don’t know what that reason is.

 

[Paul_10]

Day after a bank holiday, possibly lack of drivers?

Has 555001 been out on the system since that one time it has been out?

 

[rg177]

It's nothing to do with drivers. There was a fault on a train yesterday that requires further investigation and it was decided to keep the 555s out of service today while this is looked at. It isn't my place to disclose too much more at the minute.

 

[danielnez1]

I've heard rumblings about build quality and ongoing teething issues with various systems (which seems to be common to the Stadler METRO platform over here). In defence of the 555s. it should be pointed out that the old fleet were never regarded as well put together, even when new, and were based on outdated tech to boot).

 

[DanNCL]

No 555s again today.

I've heard rumblings about build quality and ongoing teething issues with various systems (which seems to be common to the Stadler METRO platform over here). In defence of the 555s. it should be pointed out that the old fleet were never regarded as well put together, even when new, and were based on outdated tech to boot).

From a passenger perspective they appear to be very well built. They’re not the 777s.

 

[Paul_10]

I've heard rumblings about build quality and ongoing teething issues with various systems (which seems to be common to the Stadler METRO platform over here). In defence of the 555s. it should be pointed out that the old fleet were never regarded as well put together, even when new, and were based on outdated tech to boot).

Sounds like virtually every modern train in terms of teething issues.

Wonder how long they will be withdrawn for because their absence will become more notable with some of the general public if it continues.

 

[DanNCL]

Sounds like virtually every modern train in terms of teething issues.

Wonder how long they will be withdrawn for because their absence will become more notable with some of the general public if it continues.

The general public are already noticing. If it carries on for more than a few days I can see Nexus being put in a position where they’re forced to make a statement whether they like it or not, simply as once the media and opposition politicians get wind of it they won’t stop pestering them until they have answers.

 

[hondafan1999]

The general public are already noticing. If it carries on for more than a few days I can see Nexus being put in a position where they’re forced to make a statement whether they like it or not, simply as once the media and opposition politicians get wind of it they won’t stop pestering them until they have answers.

They've been replying to people on twitter with

"The roll out is a complex mix of continued technical performance monitoring, tweaking operational practices, and understanding how customers are interacting with the range of new features of the train.

This is a standard part of the introduction process. ^ES""

Not sure how 'customers are interacting with the range of new features" has anything to do with it, sounds very corporate speak

 

[Meerkat]

They've been replying to people on twitter with

"The roll out is a complex mix of continued technical performance monitoring, tweaking operational practices, and understanding how customers are interacting with the range of new features of the train.

This is a standard part of the introduction process. ^ES""

Not sure how 'customers are interacting with the range of new features" has anything to do with it, sounds very corporate speak

Blooming customers not doing what the designers thought!

 

[Jamesrob637]

No 555s again today.


From a passenger perspective they appear to be very well built. They’re not the 777s.

Are there enough old trains still running to cover when no 555s are available?

 

[rg177]

Are there enough old trains still running to cover when no 555s are available?

More than enough. The worst of the old trains being scrapped has allowed some long-term stopped ones to nab their spare parts and re-enter service. All diagrams were covered today with multiple spare sets on depot.

 

[hondafan1999]

Blooming customers not doing what the designers thought!

Yeah, I thought that was a very strange way to word it, I've sent in a freedom of information request to see what's going on, will update this when I get a response.

 

[FusionZenFlame]

Are there enough old trains still running to cover when no 555s are available?

28 diagrams needed for a weekday which will require 54 metrocar units.
Considering out of 90 total theres been 17 scrapped so far, That means theres 73 left.
Which as mentioned is more than enough, but thats 19 spare units with some inactive ones.

This can not happen again if some more metrocars are scrapped in coming months.

28 diagrams needed for a weekday which will require 54 metrocar units.
Considering out of 90 total theres been 17 scrapped so far, That means theres 73 left.
Which as mentioned is more than enough, but thats 19 spare units with some inactive ones.

This can not happen again if some more metrocars are scrapped in coming months.

Talking about scraps, any ideas on next one?

 

[MetroTyler]

They've been replying to people on twitter with

"The roll out is a complex mix of continued technical performance monitoring, tweaking operational practices, and understanding how customers are interacting with the range of new features of the train.

This is a standard part of the introduction process. ^ES""

Not sure how 'customers are interacting with the range of new features" has anything to do with it, sounds very corporate speak

I have seen the following message:

"We expect to see minor technical and operational issues when introducing a new fleet of trains and this is aligned with our discussions with other transport colleagues from across the country.
The roll out is a complex mix of continued technical performance monitoring, tweaking operational practices, and understanding how customers are interacting with the range of new features of the train.
This is a standard part of the introduction process, and we continue to work closely with Stadler to review and address these, and continually learn from them. This is why we have taken a careful phased approach to fleet introduction.
Thankfully these trains benefit from a really sophisticated diagnostic system so when anything unexpected does arise, it is usually addressed quickly. This minimises disruption to services and gives us valuable learning to address future reliability."

 

[Tramfan]

28 diagrams needed for a weekday which will require 54 metrocar units.
Considering out of 90 total theres been 17 scrapped so far, That means theres 73 left.
Which as mentioned is more than enough, but thats 19 spare units with some inactive ones.

This can not happen again if some more metrocars are scrapped in coming months.


Talking about scraps, any ideas on next one?

28 diagrams requires 56 cars, and it's 19 cars scrapped, so 71 remaining

 

[DanNCL]

A third day without 555s in service today.

28 diagrams requires 56 cars, and it's 19 cars scrapped, so 71 remaining

Indeed, I still need to update the fleet list in the Metrocar thread.

 

[rg177]

Update on the roll out of the new Metro train fleet | nexus.org.uk

An update from our Managing Director, Cathy Massarella, regarding the new Metro fleet roll out. "We have recently identified an operational issue with the new Metro trains which is affecting the dispatch process with the doors. We have therefore decided to temporarily pause the new fleet’s...

www.nexus.org.uk

"We have recently identified an operational issue with the new Metro trains which is affecting the dispatch process with the doors. We have therefore decided to temporarily pause the new fleet’s entry into customer service while we investigate this further."

Information is now public.

 

[hondafan1999]

Update on the roll out of the new Metro train fleet | nexus.org.uk

An update from our Managing Director, Cathy Massarella, regarding the new Metro fleet roll out. "We have recently identified an operational issue with the new Metro trains which is affecting the dispatch process with the doors. We have therefore decided to temporarily pause the new fleet’s...

www.nexus.org.uk

Information is now public.

Not sure why the say they have recently identified a fault, I assume this is in relation to the dispatch cameras which have had issues since delivery of the units

 

[Paul_10]

Not sure why the say they have recently identified a fault, I assume this is in relation to the dispatch cameras which have had issues since delivery of the units

Could be more to it than just that if it includes the doors themselves? Maybe an operational incident has occured?

Either way, hopefully they will be back in service soon otherwise the negativity will soon ramp up again.

There has been another diagram switched to a 555 this month and more new units have entered passenger service so despite this issue, things are still on track in terms of the rollout.

 

[rg177]

Not sure why the say they have recently identified a fault, I assume this is in relation to the dispatch cameras which have had issues since delivery of the units

Nothing to do with cameras. It is genuinely a recent fault, but this is an active investigation, so I'm sure further details will come out once concluded and the issue rectified.

 

[hondafan1999]

Nothing to do with cameras. It is genuinely a recent fault, but this is an active investigation, so I'm sure further details will come out once concluded and the issue rectified.

Ah fair enough then, I wonder if it's related to an issue I reported 2 weeks ago when the doors automatically closed on someone when they were half way opening, someone got jammed in them temporarily, driver seemed unaware at the time which is a tad worrying but I suppose their eyes can't be everywhere at once