North East metro climate threat
Metro bosses address growing climate crisis after a Cumbria train derailed
Tyne and Wear Metro leaders say they have “invested significantly” to avoid the kind of landslide that derailed a train in Cumbria, amid a rising threat posed by the climate crisis.
North East transport bosses have spoken of the raft of problems their services are encountering as a result of more frequent extreme weather events.
Attendees at a Newcastle climate forum meeting at Metro operator Nexus’s HQ last week heard that the network was at increased risk of disruption caused by things like overhead lines sagging and tracks expanding under extreme heat, trees coming down during storms, and the kind of flash flooding witnessed at South Shields interchange during an enormous downpour that followed the 2023 Great North Run.
It comes after an Avanti West Coast train derailed near Shap earlier this month when it struck a landslip which had resulted from sustained, heavy rainfall.
Nexus told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it had carried out work to strengthen embankments from North Shields to Chillingham Road, between Felling and Heworth, South Gosforth to Jesmond, and at Felling, Tanners Bank, and Walkergate between 2010 and 2025.
Stuart Clarke, infrastructure director at Nexus, said: “Climate change presents a challenge for railway operators throughout the UK. We’re now seeing more severe wet weather than ever before.
“Nexus has invested significantly in earthworks, track drainage and embankment strengthening across the Tyne and Wear Metro system to improve resilience during extreme weather.
“These works have formed a key part of the Metro Asset Renewal Programme over the last 15 years. We also conduct a programme of inspections of the integrity of Metro embankments to detect any movement. We will respond quickly if any issues are uncovered.
“This forms our broader strategy to ensure the long-term stability and safety of the Metro system in the face of changing climate conditions. More capital projects are planned to further improve the resilience of our infrastructure. These include monitoring of retaining structures, geotechnical surveys and embankment works.”
Speaking at last week’s climate forum, Nexus head of engineering Ben Brooks said that work had been successfully completed to tackle persistent flooding problems at Tyne Dock and that the Metro is set for a UK first after ordering a special coating from Australia to reflect heat off railway tracks during the summer.
At a Newcastle City Council meeting the following night, Nexus MD Cathy Massarella said that the public body was investing “an awful lot of time, money, technology, and effort” into dealing with the effects of climate change.