Metro workers prepare to say goodbye to last of old train stock
Metro workers who cared for the system’s old trains are saying goodbye to the classic rolling stock.
Workers at the Tyne and Wear Metro Depot are getting ready to say a final farewell to their old trains.
The maintenance teams at Gosforth have spent decades repairing, improving and tending to the original Metro fleet since they came into service in 1980.
However, after 46 years the trains will make their last full journeys very soon.
The last remaining old carriages are close to being phased out completely to make way for the new fleet, which were first introduced at the end of 2024.
Known as 599 trains, the old rolling stock have carried 1.7 billion customer journeys since entering service and have clocked up half a billion kilometres. Their last runs in service will be from Monday, June 22 to Friday, June 26.
Paul Patrick started his career at the Metro depot in 1995 as an apprentice fitter. Paul, 47, is now Stadler’s Head of Region for the UK, Ireland and North America.
He said: “The old trains have been great workhorses for so many years. They have been the life blood of our region, taking people to work, to appointments, and on nights out.
“Metro is the beating heart of the North East and not many other UK cities have a railway quite like it. The trains we are about to say goodbye to have pride of place in Metro’s story.
“I worked on them when I became an apprentice aged 16. It’s a bittersweet feeling to see them go. Everyone recognises they are life expired now. They have done their job.
“You do feel an attachment to them. There are many I’ve repaired many times over and they’re now in a breaker’s yard. The new trains are amazing and it’s absolutely right that we have them now. They bring a smile to people’s faces when they see them arrive.”
The old stock consisted of 90 trains have have been replaced with class 555 trains, all of which are now in the UK after a roll-out process which saw them manufactured in mainland Europe before travelling to the North East.