Unclear when new Metro trains will return

All five of the new Metro trains have been withdrawn from service

The operator of the Tyne and Wear Metro says it is unsure when its new trains will be back in service after being pulled due to an issue with their doors.

Nexus said it suspended its five new trains on Monday "as a precaution" because of a problem linked to how they open and close, which is different to the older fleet.

In a joint statement with Swiss-manufacturer Stadler, they said "we need to investigate the impact of this further", but added they "don't expect" it to hit the rollout of further trains.

Kevin Dickinson, who runs the Sort out the Metro Facebook group, said the ongoing issues were "very disappointing".

"The end result is more disruptions for passengers, more people late for work, more people unable to use the service that is unfit for purpose," he said.

Nexus confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the door issue "affects how all new trains operate", rather than being isolated to a single model.

It has so far declined to confirm specific details but it had previously been described to the LDRS as a software issue.

Nexus is planning to introduce 46 new trains to the network by the end of next year

Nexus said there were "sufficient numbers of existing trains" still working and operating a full timetable.

Managing director Cathy Massarella and Stadler Switzerland's chief executive Lucius Gerig said "issues like this will occur" during the introduction of a new fleet.

"The standard operational procedure regarding opening and closing of the doors on the new fleet is different to that of the existing fleet and we need to investigate the impact of this further," they said.

"The solution will determine the timescale and we can't confirm this yet, however we don't expect this will impact on the rollout programme."

Nexus said it was continuing to test its new fleet and aimed for 23 new trains to be in service by the end of this year.

The full 46 are due to be in use by the end of 2026, at which point all of the old trains - which are more than 40 years old - should have been retired.