All new Metro trains pulled from service

Metro bosses say they are investigating a door fault, but the manufacturer has blamed driver error

All new Tyne and Wear Metro trains have been pulled from service due to a potential door fault.

In total 46 new trains were supposed to be in operation by the end of 2023, but so far only five have made it to the troubled network and these are now all out of action.

Operator Nexus said it had identified an operational issue with the new trains which was affecting the "dispatch process with the doors", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However Swiss company Stadler, who built the trains, said the temporary withdrawal was a result of a "series of errors made by one of the drivers and that the vehicle behaved exactly as it was intended to".

Nexus said timeframes to sort out any problems and continue the rollout of new trains were "still being assessed" and it would know more in the coming days.

Passengers are still able to use the old fleet, a spokesperson said, and there are "enough" of those trains to provide a full daily service with the same number, times and frequency of service.

The Metro's existing trains have been running since the network opened in 1980 and have become increasingly failure-prone, uncomfortable and difficult to maintain.

'Extremely frustrating'

The first of the new fleet made it into service in December 2024, with Nexus blaming rollout delays on such things as testing the trains, driver training and rising inflation.

Following the latest setback for passengers, managing director Cathy Massarella said: "The introduction of a new fleet of trains is very complex and we would expect to see minor technical and operational issues crop up as part of this process."

Praising the technology which detected the fault, she said: "Thankfully these trains benefit from a really sophisticated diagnostic system so when anything unexpected does arise, it is usually identified quickly."

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: "I know this will be extremely frustrating for passengers.

"I've asked Nexus and Stadler for a full explanation... and I will be asking for daily progress updates until the problem has been fixed."