Metro chaos as all trains cancelled
Metro trains were cancelled yesterday morning, causing chaos for shoppers Reporter A MAJOR technical fault caused a system-wide failure and Metro misery for thousands of shoppers yesterday.
Trains were unable to run at all until just after 11am due to the “signalling and communication failure”.
Passengers hoping to catch the Metro were left stranded and advised to make alternative arrangements for transport.
This led to long queues at bus stops and of traffic in parts of Newcastle city centre as would-be train travellers looking to do Christmas and Black Friday weekend shopping took to their cars to make their journeys instead.
The major disruption came just a day after Metro bosses promised to improve the service after it was revealed that, so far this year, just 81.7% of Metro trains have arrived on time – and between October 14 and November 10 only 68%.
Those figures marked a significant fall from 2017, in which the service was reporting its best sustained performance improvement in years until the Beast from the East hit – with punctuality reaching a high of 88.35% before finishing the year at 85%.
A replacement bus service and ticket acceptance was put in place yesterday while engineers worked on the issue.
The problem is believed to have stemmed from a radio failure, meaning the control room would be unable to speak to the drivers.
Many passengers were left furious by the service failures.
Trevor Cassidy fumed: “Let’s be honest, if you owned a car as unreliable as the Metro, would you keep it or next stop scrap yard?”
Tricia Gibson added: “I’m pleased I don’t have to use the Metro now as there always seems trains not running and winter’s not even here. I feel sorry for all the passengers being let down.”
And Cameron Westwood simply said the fleet were “not fit for purpose”.
Nexus apologised to customers for the “inconvenience”.
Trains were running to all destinations but subject to delays by late afternoon yesterday.
Chris Carson, Metro Services Director, said yesterday: “Following this morning’s disruption with Metro I can now confirm that trains are beginning to enter service, however significant delays remain across the network.
“The fault with our radio system had a major impact on services and it is anticipated the service will be in full operation by this afternoon. I apologise to all our passengers for this inconvenience.”
Bus services remained busy throughout the day as they took on extra passengers due to the disruption. Go North East said it provided replacement buses as well as bigger vehicles on routes operating alongside the train network.
A spokesman said: “Our services were very busy today as a result of the Metro system being down.
“Thank you for your patience during this disruption, and thanks also to our drivers and support teams who have worked hard to provide a service throughout the day.”