Services on the Tyne and Wear Metro were disrupted last Tuesday, 24 October, in the Seaburn area because of damage to a cable that feeds high-voltage power to the overhead lines.

Network Rail engineers worked to repair the damaged cable, but until those repairs were completed a reduced service operated on the Tyne and Wear Metro between Pelaw and South Hylton. To avoid other passenger services were not affected by the work Network Rail teams worked through the night to repair the damage.

Travel updates for services in the area can be found on the Nexus website at https://www.nexus.org.uk

Paul Rutter, Route Director for Network Rail’s East Coast route, speaking on Wednesday, said: “We’re sorry for the disruption that is being caused to passengers’ journeys in the Seaburn area. Our teams are working hard to resolve the issue and have already implemented a temporary fix which allows some Tyne and Wear Metro services to run.

“In the meantime, we’re asking passengers to check before they travel and want to thank them for their patience and understanding while work is carried out.”

Kevin Storey, Tyne and Wear Metro Operations Director, said: “Our apologies to customers who are seeing their Metro journeys disrupted on the Sunderland line. Network Rail, who own and maintain the line, have advised us that they have to carry out urgent repairs to power supply cables.

“We can only run two trains per hour on the Sunderland line, instead of the usual five trains per hour. Customers will need plan ahead, allow plenty of extra time to make journeys, and be prepared for services to be a lot busier.”