GOING NOWHERE
Metro off on a day of chaos and delays
THOUSANDS of people were left frustrated as the Metro system ground to a halt for most of yesterday.
All trains were stranded at the Newcastle depot after a major electrical fault at the South Gosforth sub-station.
Trains were cancelled across the whole network after the power outage at 5.30am yesterday.
By 6pm Nexus managed to get some trains back on the tracks, running a reduced service every 10 to 12 minutes between Pelaw and Benton, and Pelaw and Regent Centre.
Later they extended the service to other stations. Late last night Metro bosses said they expected to be able to operate a full service this morning.
The suspensions coincided with the first Kingston Park sell-out in almost 10 years, as 10,100 spectators were expected at the Newcastle Falcons vs Leicester Tigers Aviva Premiership rugby union match.
While in Newcastle city centre the Freedom of the Tyne festival, to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr’s visit in 1967, drew crowds from across the region.
Dan Sutton, from Teesside, planned to get a taxi to Kingston Park after the Central Station Metro was closed.
He said: “I’m not delayed at all, but it’s just made the journey 10 times more expensive.”
Falcons fans were also disrupted on the way home after their 13-30 loss, with no Metro service offered post-match.
Jennifer Lewis, who travelled up from Sheffield with Robert Richards to cheer on the Falcons, said: “It’s a bit frustrating. I’m concerned about how we’re getting back because it’s going to be quite busy after the rugby.”
Robin and Julia Lewis travelled over 300 miles to support the Tigers but were delayed by the Metro closures at Monument station.
Mrs Lewis said: “We’ve come up
from Somerset to go to the rugby and this has happened.
“We’re strangers in this city and now we’re going to have to ask around to get places.”
A bus replacement service 900 was operating between St James and Tynemouth until 12.30pm due to pre-planned overhead power line repairs, but no replacement service operated elsewhere.
Yannick Tshitshi, who wanted to travel from Monument to Chichester for church, said: “There’s no replacement bus so I need to figure it out. It’s embarrassing. The closure of the lines has just confused everyone.”
Arriva, Stagecoach and Go North East were not accepting Metro tickets and the reduced Sunday service meant there was no capacity for additional buses to cope with the increased demand.
Neil Pattinson, who attempted to travel from South Gosforth to Monument to take photographs in the city centre, said: “I had to drive here and pay for parking, but the stupid thing was that the ticket machines at South Gosforth Metro were on so I paid for my ticket.”
Customers were advised to complete a pre-paid customer response form within 28 days for refunds.
Raymond Johnstone, the director of rail and infrastructure at Nexus, said yesterday: “I’m sorry for the major disruption to Metro services that have occurred.
“We have suffered a major fault in the electrical sub-station that supplies the Metro train depot.
“Work is ongoing to get this problem rectified so that we can get trains out on to the system.”