The government will pay for an essential upgrade to prevent the Tyne and Wear Metro suffering a catastrophic shutdown. North East transport chiefs have been pushing ministers to back a £400 million replacement of the Metro’s outdated signalling system, a “safety critical” asset dating back to the 1970s and without which the Metro cannot operate.
Bosses have warned that a failure to update the infrastructure by 2030 would put the rail network at risk of being completely crippled, an embarrassing prospect given the £362 million public investment into its long-awaited new fleet of trains and the plans to extend the Metro to Washington.
Government funding
The Department for Transport (DfT) has now confirmed that it “will be funding the upgrade”, saying that the project would “enhance journey times, improve reliability and safety, and enable future expansion of the network”.
At time of writing, the DfT had not yet announced exactly how much money it will put into the scheme or where that money will come from.
Cathy Massarella, managing director of Metro operator Nexus, said: “We’re delighted the Government has today made a commitment to fund the upgrade of the signalling system on the Tyne and Wear Metro. We can now look forward to taking this essential modernisation project forward as we deliver on the mayor’s vision for a world-class integrated transport network.
“Signalling is the safety-critical system which underpins the operation of our Metro system. Without signals we can’t run the trains. We’ve had the same signalling technology since the late 1970s and it needs to be replaced. We are working with analogue technology in a digital era.
“This investment is going to be critical for Metro’s future, and critical for the whole region. A new signalling system is what we need to ensure the long-term future and sustainability of Metro, and pave the way for future route expansion, which is vital for growth, jobs and connectivity.”
Nexus has previously warned that the system, which involves mechanical relays and track circuits, has become “increasingly difficult to maintain” after passing its 40-year lifespan due to the difficulty of finding both the parts and engineering skills needed to carry out repairs.
Signalling failures have been blamed for 62% of all infrastructure related delays on the Metro, with that number expected to rise in the coming years.
It had been predicted previously that an overhaul of the signalling system across the Metro’s 60 stations would cost £500 million, though the estimated cost has since been revised down to £400 million.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness said that the “creaking” system needed replacing to “create the modern, world-class public transport our region and our people deserve”.
She added: “I promised during my election campaign that I would secure the multi-million-pound investment needed to upgrade Metro’s vital signal technology and I am proud to confirm we have delivered on this – the government has today announced a commitment to fund the system. Nexus can now get to work on designing the system to deliver this essential improvement for passengers.”
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