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POLITICIANS, business and civic leaders have joined forces to deliver a submission to Government lauded as the future of the Tyne and Wear Metro in the North East of England. Leaders of the Passenger Transport Authority and local MPs joined Nexus Director General Mike Parker at the Department of Transport in London to submit the case personally to Transport Secretary Alistair Darling. Part of the ambitious Project Orpheus concept, the Metro Reinvigoration Outline Business Case is the culmination of three years worth of hard work for Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive. The business case sets out a clear timeline and procurement process to radically improve the operation and infrastructure of the Metro network over the next 20 years. Improvements, if successfully funded through a range of options, would include: # A new customer friendly fleet of state of the art vehicles # New signalling # Improved ticketing/barriers and station equipment # Compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act # Enhanced stations and platforms including track dualling in South Tyneside # Improved information for passengers with real time/Smartcard and mobile technology. # Better integration with key interchanges and bus solutions. Mike Parker, said "Metro has begun to show its age in recent years and is suffering from degradation with increasingly service failure and infrastructure faults as elements of the network reach their end of their design life. "Despite these symptoms of degradation it continues to provide reliable and permanent access throughout the day to 25% of the Tyne and Wear population. If we are to attract not just today’s car users to Metro for some of their journeys but also the car user of 2015 and 2025 we need to have a step change in the quality of what we offer particularly in stations, rolling stock and waiting areas. Major investment in Metro, for these reasons, is critical." Councillor David Wood, said "Because Metro serves the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland it is the essential spine of public transport provision in the region and forms a core network upon which to build for the future. "If Metro were to degrade or cease operations, Tyne and Wear would become one of the few major urban areas in the UK without a permanent way based public transport system, thus reducing its competitive position in the market place as a tourist destination and place to live, work and study." Three years ago Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus embarked on an ambitious plan to rejuvenate the public transport map of the region through bus enhancement/Metro reinvigoration/demand restraint and, in the longer term, street running trams. Called Project Orpheus, the concept was launched to widespread public and political support and acclaim. Nexus, with a team of technical and economic experts, has spent the last three years refining the Project Orpheus business case for the reinvigoration of the Tyne and Wear Metro. Other business cases, for bus enhancement and street running trams will follow, Nexus say, but the need to refresh, rejuvenate and revitalise the Metro for the coming 20 years and give the people of Tyne and Wear a real and viable alternative to the private car is a priority. Nexus believes that a regenerated/reinvigorated/rejuvenated Metro can provide an attractive travel experience to meet user aspirations for the 21st century and will significantly encourage of modal shift from car to public transport. NOTES The Tyne and Wear Metro was the UK's first light rapid transit system and serves the cities of Sunderland and Newcastle/Gateshead and the districts of North and South Tyneside. This conurbation has a population of 1.1 million and the Metro system serves some of the most deprived wards in the country. Planned over 30 years ago, as a state of the art system, and opened in stages during the early 1980s, Metro was extended in 1991 and 2002 to Newcastle International Airport and Sunderland respectively. The present Metro system has 58 stations (60 by 2007) employs about 700 staff and carries over 37 million passengers each year. By 2021 car ownership in Tyne and Wear will increase by 30% (Census 1991). This will have a significant impact on levels of road traffic and public transport usage which will be a major transport challenge in the Tyne and Wear region, both in the short and long term. The conurbation will see an inexorable rise in traffic congestion which will restrict business and commerce and hamper people’s efforts to traverse the regional quickly and without disruption. These demographic trends mean that without changes in policies or funding for public transport car use will increase and public transport use will decline. Working with experts (Steer Davies Gleave, Grant Thornton, Mott McDonald and Arup) Nexus has identified that the total cost of reinvigoration to ensure that Metro meets the rising aspirations of existing and potential users is circa £500m at 2005 prices phased over a 20 year programme. There is a strong financial and economic case for this concept. A range of procurement options have been identified as ways of funding this ambitious project with Nexus committed to exploring all options in detail and recognising that they all involve some level of private sector involvement. This view has been endorsed by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority at its June 05 meeting and the project enjoys the full support of constituent local authorities of Tyne and Wear and its MPs. In order to take forward the programme to delivery, a number of actions are required. It is proposed that each of these work themes will be initiated before September 2005 and completed within 3 years. It is proposed to enter into early negotiations with Ministers to obtain support for the strategy and develop an outline programme. Because of the private sector implications for Metro rejuvenation Nexus will undertake a formal market consultation exercise later this year (2005) in order to assess the market appetite for involvement in the procurement of the Metro Reinvigoration Programme and any other aspects of the Metro business. This is estimated to take up to 12 months but is the crucial first step in the development of the procurement strategy. During this time procurement and delivery options will be explored and refined as well as informed by outcomes of the market consultation exercises. Nexus is keen to adopt an appropriate governance structure for development an implementation of Metro reinvigoration as soon as possible. Such a structure would need to establish roles and responsibilities, report procedures, approval processes and an outline project plan incorporating appropriate gateway reviews and stop/go points at critical stages of the project. Establishing this governance structure will require consideration of existing Nexus management arrangements in order that future procurement processes will not be compromised by failure to create a "level playing field" between potential bidders. Again these organisational changes will be progressed very early in the programme. More information is available at www.projectorpheus.com
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