Tyne and Wear Metro - Winterisation Scheme

[squ9re]

Anyone on here know if the Winterisation Scheme is going on this year? I haven’t been to Newcastle in a while and I know the trains will all be gone soon. Are the bothering with this or will they be gone too soon? Also does anyone know the date of the last service yet?

 

[DanNCL]

Anyone on here know if the Winterisation Scheme is going on this year? I haven’t been to Newcastle in a while and I know the trains will all be gone soon. Are the bothering with this or will they be gone too soon? Also does anyone know the date of the last service yet?

The old fleet has at least another 12 months left so will definitely need the Winterisation plan this year, possibly next year too. None of the new units are in service yet.

A final run for the old fleet hasn’t been announced yet but assuming no more delays to the new units I’d expect it to be sometime between Winter 2025 and Summer 2026.

 

[ModernRailways]

Anyone on here know if the Winterisation Scheme is going on this year? I haven’t been to Newcastle in a while and I know the trains will all be gone soon. Are the bothering with this or will they be gone too soon? Also does anyone know the date of the last service yet?

Without a doubt the winterisation plan will kick in. The current fleet will need it otherwise there will be significant shortages.

 

[91130nut]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but earlier today I saw an old metro unit hauling what I assumed to be a leaf-busting yellow tanker just east of Walkergate station. This was about 10.10am. I was a bit surprised to see this running during the hours of normal service.

 

[ModernRailways]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but earlier today I saw an old metro unit hauling what I assumed to be a leaf-busting yellow tanker just east of Walkergate station. This was about 10.10am. I was a bit surprised to see this running during the hours of normal service.

It’s the railhead treatment train, basically helps clear the leaf mulch and clear the tracks so trains have better grip during leaf fall. Needs to operate during operational hours

 

[800Travel]

Sorry - what is the 'Winterisation Scheme' please? Haven't heard of it before. Thank you

 

[hacman]

Sorry - what is the 'Winterisation Scheme' please? Haven't heard of it before. Thank you

Certain maintenance tasks and checks on the units get brought forward to ensure they can cope with colder weather, heating gets adjusted, and plans are confirmed/shored up for storing the units inside tunnels in the city centre in the event of an especially cold period or heavy snowfall.

 

[northeast10]

From timetable change on 15th December will see 2 trains out-stabled like last year.

 

[Paul_10]

From the sounds of it, maybe they should of done it last night given the amount of train faults there seem to be with the cold weather.

 

[DanNCL]

Big mistake not implementing the winterisation plan earlier this year.

 

[Paul_10]

Big mistake not implementing the winterisation plan earlier this year.

In fairness, I'm sure it's not as simple as putting trains inside the tunnels when the weather turns cold.

Staffing rotas who puts the trains there/collect them for service probably will play a big part hence there's a unmoveable start date.

 

[ModernRailways]

In fairness, I'm sure it's not as simple as putting trains inside the tunnels when the weather turns cold.

Staffing rotas who puts the trains there/collect them for service probably will play a big part hence there's a unmoveable start date.

I think the bigger issue is that this shouldn’t be a date specific thing but something that is flexible should the weather be different as per this past few days.

Whilst cancelling trains isn’t ideal, if they were to cancel 2 of the last 4 (making a 30 minute service) out of St James, they could stable two trains down there. There are other ways of doing it too, such as utilising (a) spare drivers and running empty stock. When the service cuts down from 12 minute frequency to 15 minute frequency mid evening having trains stabled down there instead of running back to the depot. Better to have a train or two missing mid evening than in the morning finding you can’t run a service because it’s been cold. Requires some short term planning but can be done.

 

[jkkne]

I think the bigger issue is that this shouldn’t be a date specific thing but something that is flexible should the weather be different as per this past few days.

Whilst cancelling trains isn’t ideal, if they were to cancel 2 of the last 4 (making a 30 minute service) out of St James, they could stable two trains down there. There are other ways of doing it too, such as utilising (a) spare drivers and running empty stock. When the service cuts down from 12 minute frequency to 15 minute frequency mid evening having trains stabled down there instead of running back to the depot. Better to have a train or two missing mid evening than in the morning finding you can’t run a service because it’s been cold. Requires some short term planning but can be done.

Short term planning and competency required, from Nexus?
Never going to happen.

 

[squ9re]

From timetable change on 15th December will see 4 trains out-stabled like last year.

When will the timetable be changed again after that? Mid-End of Jan or Later ?

 

[jkkne]

If it’s not the cold it’s the infrastructure

Due to an overhead line issue at the Gosforth depot, we are expecting there will be disruption to the start of service on Monday 9th December. Some of the first trains will operate later than usual, however there will be minimal gaps in service.

We apologise for the disruption this will cause and thank you for your patience.

Updated at 00:45, Monday, 9 December 2024

All these shiny new trains are going to be pointless when it seems even recently renewed infrastructure is continuing to fail. Nexus, as ever, apologises