Ta for putting that timetable up Flymo, interesting reading.
Mutant Lemming said:
The service frequency may be better with Metro but Tynerail had a 24 hour service. How is it heavy rail could manage that where light rail can't ?
Back at a computer now so can get my words out a bit better. Looking at that timetable, you wouldn't really be able to call it 24 hours, and as has been said it would almost certainly have been to get workers to the shipyards or other industry which has long since disappeared.
Going back a few years now, BR decided to get rid of the Tyneside Electrics as patronage on the North Tyneside loop in particular was being hit by competition from bus but mainly the car. Introducing DMUs onto the services has been seen as a backwards step - electric trains have much better acceleration and braking compared to DMUs, so journey times increased and patronage again suffered. It also didn't help that the DMUs were not exactly in good condition. Added to this, BR were not really investing in stations.
Fast foward and the Metro was introduced. Decline of industry along the Tyne means trains running during the late night and early morning probably isn't needed, although there is the argument that trains could be running say once every half an hour to provide some sort of service. The main problems I see are:
- The morning peak uses nearly all available stock that is not out for maintenance or at Doncaster. This potentially means a train that has been running around all night will need to be prepped for service or sent out without being cleaned etc
- Vandalism would no doubt increase.
- You would need more drivers to cover these shifts, and certain stations would have to be manned
- There is currently only a 4 hour window for engineering, cleaning and other work to be done on the system overnight.