A Tyne and Wear Metro boss has apologised after the passengers were misled by a “confused” explanation for slashing train timetables.
It was announced last week that extra services that ran on the Tyne and Wear network at peak times were being axed, with the change described by operator Nexus as “a response to the traditional rush hours not being as busy as they were prior to the Covid-19 pandemic”. But the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed on Tuesday that the true reason behind the cutbacks was actually a lack of working trains, after obtaining a leaked email.
The Metro’s ageing fleet has been running for more than 40 years and has become increasingly unreliable of late, particularly in the recent cold snap, and there are concerns about how the outdated carriages will fare until they can all be replaced by a long-awaited new fleet, with 46 new trains arriving by 2025. Asked to explain why Metro customers were not given the full truth of the situation last week, Nexus customer services director Huw Lewis told councillors on Thursday that it was “an error I take responsibility for”.
