Most Tyne and Wear Metros will go to scrap
Almost all of the Tyne and Wear Metro’s decades-old trains will be sent to scrap, after plans to donate some to communities were deemed too expensive.
Metro operator Nexus had offered grassroots organisations across the North East the chance to give the carriages a new lease of life after they are decommissioned and replaced by the incoming £362m fleet arriving over the next couple of years.
That could have seen a small number of the trains which have served the region since 1980 transformed into classrooms, community hubs, or street food destinations.
But those plans have now been abandoned due to worries about the price, with bosses believing it would cost tens of thousands of pounds for each train.
Instead, just two of the current 89-carriage Metro fleet will be saved from the scrapheap – with one going to the Stephenson Museum in North Shields and another to Beamish Museum.
Four have already been stripped for parts and scrapped, having become so unreliable that they could no longer be put into service, and more than 80 others are now set to follow.
Customer services director at Nexus, Huw Lewis, said: “The current Metro fleet has served the region well for more than 40 years, and we recognise that there is affection and nostalgia for the trains. However, they are now at the end of their life and will be gradually phased out over the next two years as the new Stadler trains enter service.
“Two are being retained for heritage purposes so that we keep a lasting memory of the rolling stock which transformed the local public transport network when Metro first opened in 1980.
“The first ever Metro prototype train, carriage 4001, will be donated to the Stephenson Railway Museum in North Tyneside. A second train will be going to Beamish Museum in County Durham.
“The rest of the fleet is getting sent to a local breakers yard for disposal. Four trains which are no longer serviceable have been stripped for spare parts and have already gone there, and more will follow as the new trains enter service. We and Stadler really hoped that we would be able to donate a further five trains to local community groups but this proved a lot more complex and expensive than we first thought, so sadly it’s not going to happen.
“This is due to the complexity of delivery arrangements and the need, in many cases, for cranes and extra heavy machinery or significant works to prepare the sites for accepting the trains. This means we have been unable to arrive at a viable delivery plan for the vehicles to be transported to the potential locations, that could be justified as a reasonable use of public money at a time of rising inflation and operating costs that we face.
“We’d like to thank the community groups who took time to show an interest.”
It had been hoped that the first of the new, Swiss-built Metro trains would be in service by the end of this year.
However, it was confirmed last month that they will not begin entering regular service until early 2024.
The new trains should be far more reliable and will boast modern features like air conditioning, USB charging points, and an automatic sliding step at every door.