No further Metro timetable cuts planned 'yet'

Nexus managing director Cathy Massarella said she is "not blind" to Metro's problems

The Tyne & Wear Metro operator has confirmed there are no further timetable cuts planned for now.

Almost a year since extra peak services were removed during rush hour, fears remain about the ability of ageing trains to maintain the existing service.

Nexus managing director Cathy Massarella said if a problem arose that saw the existing fleet start to fail "we would have to think again".

But she added there are "daily analysis sessions" with maintenance firm Stadler to help keep trains running.

Metro had its worst ever punctuality figures towards the end of last year, with only 61% of services over a four-week period arriving on time.

Ms Massarella told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she was "not blind" to the frustration felt by passengers.

She said: "I would never sit here as a Metro user and defend the [current level of] service.

"But what I would say is that we and Stadler are doing our absolute best to... get the best service out we can."

The current trains are already a decade past their expected lifespan, leading to problems engineers have "never seen before".

Asked if timetable cuts could be seen in the future, Ms Massarella said: "Not yet.

"I will be watching and we will have conversations and plans if we need to. But at this moment in time, no."