MetroCar4058
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This is unrelated, probably just coincidence.
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Tyne & Wear Metro: Fleet Refurbishment List
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This is unrelated, probably just coincidence.
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DanNCL
Established Member
I've read elsewhere that 4019 and 4075 are out of service long term. This would add up with my own observations (4019, 4022 and 4075 being the only units that I didn't see out in service last year), and I know that 4022 is out of service long term, but wondered if there's any truth in the reports of 4019 and 4075 being out of service long term, and if they are out of service long term, does anyone know why?
Looks like a rather nasty incident today with the overhead wires around Gateshead. We're approaching the 8th hour of major disruption. Plenty of pictures of passengers being de-trained in tunnels through the Central belt.
As ever, Nexus communication has been....well incompetently Nexus-ish. On a plus, I did get 4001 this morning. Always a pleasure.
As ever, Nexus communication has been....well incompetently Nexus-ish. On a plus, I did get 4001 this morning. Always a pleasure.
Anything that causes severe arcing and bringing the wires down would be quite an alarming experience really, only really experienced something similar once before but the wires did not fall or snap on that occasion.
Reports of smoke also although i only seen one photo and any smoke could be caused by the arcing rather than any fires in the line breaker case for example like what happened on 4052 and 4090 in the past.
All in all this could of been alot worse than it was.
ModernRailways
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The train involved had a power fault, driver attempted to fix and was unsuccessful. Evacuated the train and then from what I've overheard they tried to move the train down to Pelaw from Gateshead tunnels to resume service. It got through Gateshead and was back in the tunnels heading towards Gateshead Stadium where it then brought the overhead wires down.
There was 2 or 3 trains all involved and I believe the train with the smoke and arcing was the train following behind the one causing the issues so that also ended up failing and causing further issues.
It was only by sheer luck that the service was up and running for the morning as the train that had the power issue originally then ended up having a flat battery too on it's return to the depot.
danpick
Member
Last time I had it was July last year paired with 4001.
7522
On Moderation
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From my observations Metrocar 4002 has seen very little passenger service since 4040 was removed from service last July. 4001 and 4083 are regularly in use as a pair including today on the Sunderland line but 4002 never seems to pair up with either 4083 or 4001. I last saw 4002 on the RHTT so I don't think there is a problem with 4002 itself but more the fact it has no partner due to 4040 being out of service. I would like to know what is happening with 4040 as I know it has been out of service since July so maybe the chances of it returning to use are reducing with it being out so long.
I know units being out of service for long periods is kind of nothing new and has no doubt always been the case but wouldnt it be nice if virtually every unit was in active service because since 4041 went for refurbishment back in 2010 there has never been a time where a full fleet has been avaliable for various reasons.
Today has been a bit of a nightmare, 3 failed trains today, one at East Boldon, then another one further down and then one at Hebburn, the longer these trains are working, the more they are breaking down, there isn't much more they can do to keep them going is there?
AutoKratz
Member
It’s a complete miracle these trains are still going so credit to the metro engineers for pulling this off. Initially it was envisaged the ‘Supertrams’ as they were known would be in service for 15-20 years max before being replaced by a new fleet. No money was forthcoming from government for a new fleet so the first refurbishment in the late ‘90s was to extend their life to 2015 and the latest Wabtec refurb was mostly cosmetic. I think it’s going to be a tough job keeping them going to 2021.
bramling
Veteran Member
Is it also fair to say they're now working more intensively than envisaged? More double-unit running, plus the Sunderland extension?
Thats a new one too me, i heard they were meant to be in service for 30 years hence the fleet are working beyond there shelf life and hence the unrealiabilty issues at times.
Other issue apart from the fact more units are needed to work all the diagrams is the fact that so many units are out of service, 4002, 18, 19, 22, 30, 40, and 75 are all out of service atm for such a long period and thats not counting that 4001/83 are no longer paired together(saw 4001 on its own outside the depot yesterday) although that could just be tempory hopefully but it does not help matters at all.
DanNCL
Established Member
4030 is still in service as I saw it just over a week ago, so unless it's been withdrawn within the last week it's still in service. AFAIK the only reason 4002 has been out of use for so long is because 4001 and 4083 have been the unrefurbished pairing for a while now and 4002 isn't much use on it's own. If 4083 and 4001 have been split as you say (I saw them both together in service as recently as Monday) then that could possibly mean that either 4001 or 4083 are about to be swapped for 4002.
7522
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More problems with train availability today. I was in Gateshead and I heard announcements about 20 minute delays on both lines due to shortage of trains. When I got to the platform there was a 25 minute wait for a coast train so I jumped on the Airport train and went to Monument platform 3. Had to wait roughly 20 minutes there as well because a train went through the platform out of service. So there was at least 2 trains missing at that time on the coast line and judging by the announcements there must have also been one missing on the Airport line. I guess the high number of units out of service long term is not helping things. I wonder why some (eg 4019) have been out of use for so long? and if / when they will be returning to service.
MetroCar4058
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Officially its because the depot is overwhelmed with the amount of work needing to be done and they have been prioritising quick jobs over the more complex ones thus leading to units with big issues being left for later. There are 14 new jobs being created in the depot but its going to take time for the impact of this to be felt and Nexus acknowledge that best case scenario is fleet availability and fault free KM to remain the same or drop slightly. Also they're putting in some extra equipment in the depot to allow more trains to be worked on simultaneously.
The outlook isn't great and things aren't going to get any better. I personally believe that single unit workings or reduced frequency are things that are going to have to be considered. I'd go with the former over the latter as some of the diagrams could get away with running as single units off peak although this would require extreme caution and high awareness of whats going on across the region to provide for demand pulses.
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danpick
Member
103 & 110 been missing most of the afternoon today - another set had to run as a single car in service on the Green line.
DanNCL
Established Member
The single car service was a pair but with only the rear unit carrying passengers, reported in the chronicle that someone defecated on one of the seats... https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/metro-service-terminated-after-someone-15807268 . The recent rise in anti social behaviour incidents on metro have been making matters much worse with trains regularly having to be pulled from service after some vandals have smashed windows.
I cant see single car being enforced in all honesty, would be too much hassle to pair all the units back up again on a night time for the morning and how/when would you uncouple them after the evening peak. Plus dont think it would make any difference to reliabilty as the spare cars wont likely to have aby maintenance done to them.
Talking of vandalism, there does seem to be an increase of trains having evidence of graffiti on them which is sad too see really.
One more observation from my recent trip to Tyneside, im sure i heard at Palmersville a male version of the PA saying "The train standing at platform 1 is for South Shields" although that is the only station i heard it at but it could suggest a minor change is on the way to the station PAs. It sounded like the male version of the PAs inside the trains.
DanNCL
Established Member
Saw in service again today, paired with 4037, so 4030 definitely hasn't been withdrawn.
Pelaw Junction
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Couple things-
Can service not be reduced to every 15 mins during the day? Outside of the peaks I’m sure a train an hour on each line won’t go too amiss if it means the peaks are all operating at the right time.
Also, does anyone know why there are speed restrictions in place leading to Brockley Whins leading from Fellgate? Been weeks now that you just trundle from half way out of fellgate!
Can service not be reduced to every 15 mins during the day? Outside of the peaks I’m sure a train an hour on each line won’t go too amiss if it means the peaks are all operating at the right time.
Also, does anyone know why there are speed restrictions in place leading to Brockley Whins leading from Fellgate? Been weeks now that you just trundle from half way out of fellgate!
danpick
Member
The restriction is in both directions as of this morning - I believe its to do with the junction.
I can see single sort of working.
I commute from Hebburn at the moment and my train is completely packed by the time it reaches me to head towards Newcastle. I hop off at Pelaw to catch one of the short peaks (a gamble at times) which could easily cope with a single run.
I appreciate its more complicated that that but there is potential there to do it.
On a side since customer services moved to 24 hour operation, communication has improved for morning starts...still an absolute disaster during disruption
But drivers have been fantastic with Comms. Every red signal announced and apologised for. Not sure if Comms are better or drivers are just coming out in sympathy with us.
I commute from Hebburn at the moment and my train is completely packed by the time it reaches me to head towards Newcastle. I hop off at Pelaw to catch one of the short peaks (a gamble at times) which could easily cope with a single run.
I appreciate its more complicated that that but there is potential there to do it.
On a side since customer services moved to 24 hour operation, communication has improved for morning starts...still an absolute disaster during disruption
But drivers have been fantastic with Comms. Every red signal announced and apologised for. Not sure if Comms are better or drivers are just coming out in sympathy with us.
DanNCL
Established Member
Noticed that 4020 was covered in graffiti today. Is it just me or are Metro units being tagged much more often than they used to be by the graffiti "artists"?
MetroCar4058
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Single unit working wouldn't be wise during the peaks, part of the protection of running them in double is that one unit can often be used to rescue the one it's coupled with if it fails. Single unit working in my opinion would be best off peak to (1) reduce the KM the stock is clocking up (2) allow for proactive maintenance. To be honest, it would be a right pain to fit into the timetable/would need change for point 2. Also point 2 would require a driver to take the stock back to the depot and by the time it is there, even if there is space to work on it, there isn't much time before it will need to be repositioned. In regard to point 1, again that would be difficult as Airport, St James and South Hylton are the only three stations which could be used to stable without a driver to take the units somewhere. This would reduce platform flexibility as one would need to be reserved for 2 car units and this means only 4 trains (1x Airport/St James and 2X S.Hylton stabled at) could be reduced down to single car, I also don't know what the rule book says on platform sharing. Metro Single car working is clearly complex and not really desirable but it may need to be considered at some point.
Going forward, I think the Regent Centre terminators should be reduced in favour of more Monkseaton and Benton trains as demand is clearly higher there. Although the arbitrary 3 minute peak idea is out of the window, I think the service could cope with less trains running if they were targeted better with demand. One thing is clear, all of the core service needs to be 2 units during the peak!
I think the drivers are dealing with the best of what they have got, to be fair, I don't think many people who work for Metro really have a choice in dealing with archaic trains that are harder to get bits for, a network that has a large capacity and of course idiots who decide that deficating on three seats on a metro train is a good idea. I feel sorry for a lot of them, I know that a new comms system was trialled between train and base so I might be right in assuming that it might have improved on board communication too.
As i said in me last post, ive noticed on my last trip to Tyneside that there does seem to be alot of units with evidence of graffiti attacks. Obviously its nothing new but it must be a constant pain in trying to clean it off.
Easier to clean off than other things...
https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/09/train-service-cancelled-commuter-poo-seats-8496614/
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