Tyne and Wear Metro service on the Great North Run Day

Hello all,

It seems that the Tyne & Wear Metro has provided an absolutely disastrous service today, on the day of the Great North Run in South Shields.

One would expect the Metro to be extremely busy today, and rightfully so. They reportedly promised ''extra trains'' for today, yet it seems they aren't running. Earlier this morning, they then reported delays of up to 20 minutes on the Airport-South Hylton and St. James-South Shields lines due to ''train shortages''... Oh dear.

To add further insult to injury, people are reporting that on one Metro; a driver is actually under instruction! Taking the biscuit I think...

Furthermore, people are apparently even missing the race due to their Metros taking so long to get there/not being able to get there at all because of the delays. Why haven't they used 3 car sets? Most if not all platforms on the system are supposedly built for such use.

People have apparently been told to leave their trains because they won't move due to the heat. I don't quite understand that one myself but hey ho!

A full length Metro set was reportedly withdrawn at Pelaw station. People were reportedly walking from Chichester to South Shields because the service was so poor. Doesn't look like a very good day for the Metro..!

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news...n-2015-passengers-10045257#ICID=FB-Chron-main

Thoughts and opinions?

The NEXUS train set falls over again.

Sounds like they had a plan and didnt have the resources to fulfil it.

The normal sunday morning service is every 30 mins on each line until about 10 then. i don't know if something was missed in communication but from the pics i've seen it appears people thought "extra" trains equated to a peak time service

ChathillMan said:

The NEXUS train set falls over again.

Sounds like they had a plan and didnt have the resources to fulfil it.

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I'm no expert of the system, but I gather they have a small reserve fleet. Some people suggesting 3-car sets being used might have to consider the fact that to provide a 3-car set is not as easy as just rolling one out and putting it into service.

ThePannier said:

I'm no expert of the system, but I gather they have a small reserve fleet. Some people suggesting 3-car sets being used might have to consider the fact that to provide a 3-car set is not as easy as just rolling one out and putting it into service.

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I dont think 3 cars could fit at south shields

ChathillMan said:

I dont think 3 cars could fit at south shields

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Interesting point. I admit to only visiting the station once on my travels, and the 2-car train did look like it spanned the whole length of the platform.

The stations in he town centre were originally built to fit three cars, but South Shelds station wouldn't be nearly long enough.

The service today has seemingly been a disaster, which will come as no surprise to regular passengers on the metro, the service has gone rapidly downhill over the past couple of years with one of the main reasons being the ageing fleet. There is a fleet of 90 cars and in theory the four unrefirbished metrocars are supposed to be the "reserve fleet" but given the fact there are regular train failures, the supposed reserve fleet is generally in service - this May be the reason for the shortages today. Though the quotes I have seen from the metro seem to say that they didn't anticipate such a large volume of people.

This is a quote from a Nexus spokesperson on the Newcastle Chronicle website:

“We’ve been a bit taken aback by how many people there have been between the Airport and Newcastle.

“There were one or two problems first thing this morning and staff have been sorting that out - we had a couple of trains which didn’t run as planned.

“We think the pressure of numbers might be with people parking up there then catching trains down."

I was caught up in this today. The problem was worse at places like Gateshead which is a major population and source of runners but because the metros were starting at South Shields / Pelaw they were jam packed and not able to get on for 3/4 metros at a time. There were extra metros though and 3 metro units have been used in the past but only Stopping at certain stops because of platform length

Some of the metro drivers attitude left a lot to be desired though. 1 in particular was blaming the runners for a door fault and threatening to retrain everyone if people didn't move when the door was actually and just having a hissy fit

If I'm honest, the GNR is always going to be a very hard day for Metro. The biggest issue is actually the trip setting of the overheads down towards South Shields and the fact there is a single line between Pelaw and Bede. This means DB/Nexus cannot stream MetroCars down there as easily as they could to say, Airport.

Most platforms are only long enough for 2 car units, only some of the old BR stations and Haymarket Platform 2 are long enough for 3 units.

Lack of staff and sets (train shortages have been the bigger issue recently) has been a common issue, but there should be at least 78 serviceable units as this is the peak requirement set by Nexus and cancellations aren't as bad as they have been.

Regarding the Driver under instruction, this has to be expected. They cannot put staff off a roster because it is going to be a busy day. I would say well done to all of the staff, especially drivers who have came in on their day off to run a relief set.

Each MetroCar service set (x2) only has a capacity at crush of 600 passengers, so really capacity can only be pushed up to say 6000?(rough guess) from 2400 an hour which is the normal Sunday service. It didn't help that somebody trespassed on the line.

Nexus cannot do much but send out extra trains to the hot spots; personally I wouldn't blame them for not increasing provision up towards the Airport as this isn't strongly linked to the event. Can anyone give me more specific information on the extra sets running today? I'm assuming we had many terminating at Regent Centre.

Really I think we should run the extra services shorter, say to Haymarket; this allows them to get back to South Shields faster although, as mentioned earlier, the single line config isn't helpful at all.

In summary, I think its not Metro, be it DB or Nexus fault. We have limited stock, limited line capacity and limited staff numbers. People need to realize the Metro isn't the wonder system that can cope with anything; 90 units isn't allot. Running a peak service is all they can do, it may not be enough for the demand, but for one day a year it really is insignificant. Maybe for our next generation of sets we will get more units, a higher capacity and dual track down to Shields!

Its at times like this when buses really are god send. I know of two runners that got the bus instead of waiting at Shields for a Metro

I'm glad NEXUS don't want anything to do with the our four wheeled friends, oh wait..

I'm sitting on the fence with the arguments of bus operators such as Go North East, Arriva and Stagecoach accepting Metro users onto their buses. Part of me thinks; ''good on you'', then the other part thinks; ''why? These extra customers are delaying buses, overcrowding them, and resulting in you leaving your own customers behind. You should be putting your own customers before somebody else's''.

The thing is, Nexus dangle a carrot (£££££) in front of their faces that make it hard to refuse, hence why they accept Metro users. Although I gather they did not do so today?

Well buses are more practical for an event like this. There are more available and the road capacity is higher than the rail, they can also run 'express' services to direct destinations.

MetroCar4058 said:

Well buses are more practical for an event like this. There are more available and the road capacity is higher than the rail, they can also run 'express' services to direct destinations.

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Go North East contributed very well in my opinion; http://www.simplygo.com/news/extra-buses-and-money-saving-tickets-for-the-great-north-run/

Service R1 operated with 15 double deck vehicles, while the X27 utilised double deckers too.

ThePannier said:

To add further insult to injury, people are reporting that on one Metro; a driver is actually under instruction! Taking the biscuit I think...

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What's wrong with this? The overwhelming majority of the physical road training (i.e. the stuff done after the procedures/theory in the classroom) for drivers at any train operator is done out on the road, whilst in charge of a passenger-carrying train.

Mojo said:

What's wrong with this? The overwhelming majority of the physical road training (i.e. the stuff done after the procedures/theory in the classroom) for drivers at any train operator is done out on the road, whilst in charge of a passenger-carrying train.

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On the TW Metro when a driver is being accompanied by someone (for whatever reason) the front of the train is closed off from the public so this would reduce capacity on that service. Other than that I can't think of a reason why it could be seen to be a problem!

Mojo said:

What's wrong with this? The overwhelming majority of the physical road training (i.e. the stuff done after the procedures/theory in the classroom) for drivers at any train operator is done out on the road, whilst in charge of a passenger-carrying train.

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I probably should have been clearer, the point made by ainsworth74 below is what seems to have taken the mickey a bit; having a section of a train cordoned off on what is already a busy service.

ainsworth74 said:

On the TW Metro when a driver is being accompanied by someone (for whatever reason) the front of the train is closed off from the public so this would reduce capacity on that service. Other than that I can't think of a reason why it could be seen to be a problem!

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ThePannier said:

I probably should have been clearer, the point made by ainsworth74 below is what seems to have taken the mickey a bit; having a section of a train cordoned off on what is already a busy service.

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Well if the roster has that train as running with a DUI and they are running a peak service, would you rather one less train due to lack of drivers or 8 less seats on the articulate?

I'm not too surprised to hear the reports of disruption today, having the Sunderland game on today also could of potentially compounded the problems even more.

i wonder if more can be done to avoid the OHL tripping thus more units can be sent down that part of the line, have some trains stabled into South Shields sidings ready to pick up the large amount of people that is being used.

Perhaps Nexus could even consider providing a shuttle bus service from the finish line to Seaburn station to try and seperate the crowds and not have everyone heading towards one metro station but that will mean more money has to be spend to provide these buses.

Sadly a lot of people just won't realise that its never as simple as having a frequent service on a line which can't have too many trains on it because its got single sections in parts, the OHL could potentially trip like it did one year and of course, there is driver availability also.

MetroCar4058 said:

Well if the roster has that train as running with a DUI and they are running a peak service, would you rather one less train due to lack of drivers or 8 less seats on the articulate?

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I think they would rather a train without a driver under instruction. So neither of your choices. That may not have been possible today though.

3 car trains can't be run due to a number of reasons, main one being DOO mirrors and monitors are not set up for trains longer than 2 cars.

The real issue will be the fact that any additional trains have to be worked by drivers on overtime. You can't force staff to work who are on rest days and there is no incentive for drivers to go in.

The system is not set up for 3-car sets. There is a limit to what they can run to Shields, Nexus run a two-ferry service on GNR day to help with the crowds. The nice weather will have brought more people out but why arent the organisers- who make a bloomin fortune from the event- running enough buses to get runners from Shields to the start on Town Moor?

A big issue remains DB Regio's incompetence, though, gouging huge profits out of a service that's always needed subsidy. We have Gordon Brown to thank for that one.
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Of course, we also have the brainiacs at Sky to thank for putting a Mackem match on today too. Northumbria Police should have grown a set and refused the safety case for that today.

Regarding the OHL, again this is one of the things that cannot be changed easily. Too many trains in a substation section will trip the breakers and those have to be reset at South Gosforth. There is a lot of detail on this in the recent RAIB report.

Reminder that the NEXUS in house bid failed to win its own bidding process to run the Metro - A process instigated by the then councillors/members of the TWPTA

Of course it did; Labour at the time made it clear there'd be no funding if it remained council operated.

I wonder if the system will fall back into Nexus' hands at the end of this tender. Let's face it, Nexus still pulls the purse strings.

If it can, I'm sure it will. It was clear at the time that Nexus didn't want to let a private company operate it, but that they wouldn't get the Government funding for improvements if they didn't. That's a big part of the reason why Nexus are so quick to hang DB Regio out to dry- the "fines" DB Regio get are always well publicised in the local paper.

Arctic Troll said:

If it can, I'm sure it will. It was clear at the time that Nexus didn't want to let a private company operate it, but that they wouldn't get the Government funding for improvements if they didn't. That's a big part of the reason why Nexus are so quick to hang DB Regio out to dry- the "fines" DB Regio get are always well publicised in the local paper.

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I've always thought DB Regio were being used as a cash cow. Its easier to kick a private company in the chron than to point the gun at themselves

ChathillMan said:

I've always thought DB Regio were being used as a cash cow. Its easier to kick a private company in the chron than to point the gun at themselves

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Well Nexus is known as the toxic brand now for doing just that!

MetroCar4058 said:

Well Nexus is known as the toxic brand now for doing just that!

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Are they? By whom?

Arctic Troll said:

Are they? By whom?

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I'm not really in the position to disclose any information.

MetroCar4058 said:

I'm not really in the position to disclose any information.

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Well we know DB Regio don't like losing money, and we know the directors at Go North East and Stagecoach Busways have thrown their toys out of the pram about Quality Contracts. Beyond that, I'm at a loss as to who considers Nexus "toxic".

The staffing and the reliability of the Metrocars are down to DB Regio cutting corners. The reliability of the lineside equipment is Nexus rail, although unless someone is going to pay Nexus enough money to rip it all out and start again I don't see there being a quick fix to some of the problems. The fact the Metro was built on the cheap- especially from Pelaw to Jarrow- is starting to come back to haunt it.

But if DB Regio don't like it, they know where the door is.