Tyne and Wear Metro given further £7.3m Covid relief

Nexus said Metro passenger numbers were gradually increasing

The Tyne and Wear Metro is to receive a further £7.3m in government Covid relief funding.

The money is part of a package of Department for Transport support for light rail and bus operators.

Metro operator Nexus said passenger numbers were still lower than pre-Covid levels but were gradually recovering.

Finance director John Fenwick said the extra funding was "essential in order to maintain the Metro service" amid growing inflation.

"We stressed the need throughout last year for an extension to government financial support for the Tyne and Wear Metro," he said.

The funding will be used to cover the service's running costs until October.

Nexus has received several bailouts from the government during the pandemic but said in October the network's money problems would not affect a £100m planned scheme to boost the frequency of trains.

Work is due to start in September on the Metro Flow project to upgrade three single-track sections of the line between Pelaw and Bede in South Tyneside to allow run services to run every 10 minutes.