Sunderland Tyne and Wear Metro line residents angry over closure

South Hylton Metro station has been affected

Businesses and residents say they have been living in a "nightmare" as the Tyne and Wear Metro remains partly closed due to a "serious fault".

For the past six weeks, services have been unable to stop at some Sunderland stations including University, Millfield, Pallion and South Hylton.

A substation was damaged by flooding, which caused a fire and affected power to overhead lines.

Transport bosses said trains should be back up and running by mid-January.

Services between Park Lane and South Hylton on the Sunderland line are affected

Since mid-November, no trains have been running in either direction between the four stations and Park Lane.

A replacement bus service has been set up, while some Stagecoach services are accepting Metro tickets.

'Shocking'

But shop owners and commuters in South Hylton have said the area has been "forgotten about" and people are suffering, despite this.

Resident Gordon Dixon said: "We can't get out the village to go to the town.

"The buses are running but they aren't as reliable and even they've been on strike, people have been struggling.

"It must be worse for older people, they must be stuck here, it must be horrible for them. I think it's shocking."

The owner of His & Hers has been affected

Owner of His & Hers Salon, Lynn Naisbit, said she had seen a drop in trade as clients "can't get down" to the village.

She said: "It's awful for the older customers.

"On a Thursday I have lot of regulars and that's their day out, when they go from the shop and they go out and have a coffee in Pallion.

"They have never come down [since the problems]."

Another business owner, Jayne Crawford, said the lack of trains was a "nightmare" for those in the area and the frequency of the replacement bus service was not ideal.

Ms Crawford, who runs Elegance Beauty, said: "A lot of my clients come here on the Metro, now they have to get the bus which takes them all around the world to get here, a lot of them aren't happy.

"It's a nightmare."

Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, Sharon Hodgson said she was concerned at the impact on South Hylton and urged the repair works to be prioritised.

Nexus says it is operating 'frequent' rail replacement buses

Nexus, which operates the Tyne and Wear Metro, said it was "just as frustrated as our customers" as it waited for the repairs to be completed.

It said that the issue affecting the power supply was "beyond our control" as the line was owned and managed by Network Rail.

"Nexus have been in close contact with Network Rail since this occurred. We are unable to run trains in the affected area until the repairs are done," a spokesperson said.

"We want to see Metro services get back to running normally throughout Sunderland as soon as possible in the new year.

"In the meantime, we will continue to provide a frequent replacement bus service between Park Lane and South Hylton."

Nexus previously advised customers to check their journeys before travelling.

Paul Rutter, East Coast route director for Network Rail, said: "Our teams have been working to rebuild the electrical substation in Pallion after it was badly damaged by flooding in November.

"We're on track to have it back up and running, ready to safely power Metro services between Park Lane and South Hylton again from mid-January."

Network Rail apologised for the impact on customers and urged people to allow extra time to use replacement buses.