An essential new train fleet
Metro needs new trains if it is to continue offering a reliable, convenient and comfortable service for people in North East England.
The current Metrocars were constructed in the late 1970s, and have served their purpose well. However despite undergoing two significant refurbishments, the fleet is coming to the end of its design life, with many components effectively life-expired, contributing to a very unstable operating environment, with Metrocar failures leading to delays and trains being withdrawn from service.
Nexus, the public body which owns and manages Metro, is procuring the delivery of a £362 million train fleet, with the support of the Government. Stadler, the Swiss train manufacturer, won the the contract to design, build and maintain the new fleet. They will also build a new £70m Metro train depot on the sire of the current depot at Gosforth in Newcastle.
Designed and built specially, the new trains will take Metro into the future with world-class reliability and comfort, much greater energy-efficiency and modern carriage features and technology for our passengers. We’re basing our ambitions on the biggest ever consultation with local people on the journeys they want to enjoy in future.
Metro carries about 36 million passengers every year (pre-Covid era) on the busiest and most frequent local rail network outside London.
It is a fundamental part of the economic and social life of North East England - taking 15 million car journeys off the region’s roads and helping town and city centres to thrive.
New trains - delivered from 2022 and set to enter passenger service in 2023 - will provide decades of effective service to Metro and its passengers. The investment now will secure the system’s future and let us explore potential new routes.
Our plans are supported by the North East Combined Authority, the Local Enterprise Partnership and major businesses, universities and public service providers.