AMF at Newcastle College Rail Academy -Tyne and Wear Metro Fleet Transition
Join us at Newcastle College Rail & Civil Engineering Academy for an exclusive update on the new Metro Fleet Transition.
There will be a chance to network with your fellow guests and an opportunity to have a tour of the impressive facilities on offer at the Rail Academy.
After a short introduction from AMF and Newcastle College, Stuart Clarke; Infrastructure Director at Nexus will take us through the latest developments (information from Nexus below).
Agenda:
14:00 – Arrival, refreshments, networking
14:15 – AMF & Newcastle College introductions
14:30 – Stuart Clarke; Infrastructure Director, Nexus
15:15 – Q&A
15:30 – Site Tour/further network
16:00 – Close
Introducing the new Metro fleet is the biggest and most historic project in the network’s history. The 46 new Stadler built trains will transform the customer experience for many generations to come by bringing fifty years of advances in technology, customer experience, accessibility standards and energy efficiency.
We’re currently underway with our testing and employee training, the most challenging phase of any fleet transition project. Tens of thousands of detailed tests are taking place to get the fleet ready for customer service. Before they’re fully ready, around 22,000 standards and clauses must be complied with, 90,000 individual tests completed and 480 of our people given extensive training. The full fleet of trains must also complete a total of 37,000km fault free running before they are ready for handover. All of this is to ensure that the new trains work safely and seamlessly with Metro’s 60 stations and 77km of track.
Adding complexity to the project, our 43-year-old existing fleet is struggling and this winter will be particularly challenging. Despite our best efforts, the aging fleet is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and repair, leading to frequent service disruptions and customer inconvenience.
This is a significant project for our region and we’re aware there are many people who are interested in hearing about when they will be able to get on a new train as well as understanding what action we’re taking to minimise disruption during the transition.
I want to ensure our key stakeholders are fully briefed on the programme timescales, challenges and most importantly, on the progress we’re making. We’d welcome the opportunity to talk you through this and are keen to organise for a member of our senior team to attend a meeting or any pre-existing forums that you already have in place to do this.
