Stadler has completed the first two new Tyne and Wear Metro trains which will enter a crucial period of testing, Nexus, the public body which owns and operates the Metro network announced.
The trains are ready to roll off the production line in Switzerland and will now go through a rigorous process of what is known as dynamic and static testing.
The first new train is set to arrive in North East England before the end of the year.
The trains will then be sent to a larger test track in the Czech Republic to be put through their paces, and this is when some of the Metro drivers will get their first chance to drive one.
“I’m delighted to say that the first couple of new Metro trains are complete and are about to roll off the production line over in Switzerland. Stadler will then need to put the trains through a testing phase which will take a few months,” Head of Fleet and Depot Renewal at Nexus, Michael Richardson, said.
Stadler is building a total of 46 new Metro trains for Nexus, which will be delivered up to 2024. In 2020, Stadler was awarded a GBP 700 million (EUR 828 million) contract for the supply of 42 Tyne and Wear Metro trains and in 2021, Nexus ordered 4 additional trains.
The new trains will deliver a step change in comfort and quality, and will cut energy consumption by 30%, will have modern features including charging points, air conditioning and a step-change in accessibility.
Among the new features will be an automatic sliding step at every door of the new trains, making travel easier for Metro’s 50,000 wheelchair passengers as well as people with children’s buggies, luggage or bicycles.
Stadler is also close to completing a new GBP 70 million (EUR 82.78 million) Metro depot at Gosforth in Newcastle, which will be a modern new home for the new Metro trains.
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