The first daytime test train ran on Metro’s coastal route between Newcastle and North Tyneside this week, marking a significant step forward in a £362m programme which will see the new Stadler fleet entering service later this year.
The Swiss train manufacturer has already delivered seven of the 46 trains ordered by Nexus, the public body which operates Metro. Twenty-three have now been built.
Testing the new trains involves 90,000 individual checks.
The daytime checks, which began on 15th May, are known as kilometre accumulation.
This replicates the customer service the trains will experience when they are up and running.
Although the public can now see the new Class 555 Metro trains, they will not be able to travel on them just yet.
The doors are fitted with special netting and Metro staff will be travelling on board to ensure that no one gets on if the train stops in one of the network’s 60 stations.
On-going checks
The Class 555s have already been put through their paces at night. So far, they have completed 37,000 miles of running while the network is closed.
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Checks have included the important mechanical areas such as brakes, wheels and power supply, alongside security features like CCTV.
Everything from seats and doors to windscreen wipers has to be fully assessed to meet around 22,000 standards and clauses before the trains can enter service.
As well as mechanical checks, passenger comfort is an important consideration of these 19,000 hours of tests.
In addition to ensuring that the new trains can operate smoothly along the 77 kilometres of track on the Metro network, Nexus has 480 staff who need to be trained to work with them.
Metro celebrated its 40th birthday this year, opening its first lines in 1984.
It is marking this anniversary with a number of high-profile improvement projects, including a new depot at Gosforth to house the Stadler fleet.
We’re excited to have our first new trains in daytime testing on the network, which will give customers a chance to see them for the first time.
We will be working closely with Stadler during the daytime test runs, with the new train slotted in between other timetabled services.
Testing the new trains is the most complex and challenging part of what is the biggest project we’ve undertaken since the Metro system was first built. There is great attention to detail. It’s very much like the testing that a car manufacturer undertakes when it’s preparing to unveil a new model. The trains need to be put through their paces to ensure that they are ready for day to day customer service.
Michael Richardson, Head of Fleet and Depot Replacement at Nexus
Responses
Will these be accessible for mobility scooters users , without getting off and dismantling the scooter?
The original Tyne and Wear Metro rolling stock was built by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham. The new Class 555s are being built by Stadler, in Switzerland. Nothing to be proud of in that. Why, oh why did we throw away our train building industry, and the skills and corporate pride that that drove it?
I totally agree especially since Switzerland is a high wage economy and Stadler have the considerable extra cost of transporting the trains across Europe and through the Channel Tunnel. It is utterly shameful that the country that invented the passenger train has no British owned train manufacturer. I do not criticize Stadler. It is an excellent manufacturer with good products. Britain disregards the hard technical skills that are vital to the operation of an advanced economy.
What other country in the World would think it was a good idea to appoint a history graduate who has never ever treated a single patient to be CEO of the NHS ?