Yahoo News Tyne and Wear Metro hit by six-hour delay due to power outage at Gosforth as Nexus apologise for inconvenience
Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus have apologised to customers for the six-hour disruption to the service today.
Trains only ran from Pelaw - Airport and Pelaw - Monkseaton until 11:10 as a result of a power supply failure at the Gosforth depot shortly before 5am this morning.
The disruption at Gosforth meant 13 trains were affected, with Nexus advising customers that ticket acceptance on local Go North East, Stagecoach and Arriva bus services were in place. This finished at 12:30 today as the Metro service resumed, but with significant delays.
READ MORE:Metro suspension: What we know so far about 'power supply' outage on Tyne & Wear Metro
The failure left passengers facing lengthy delays, including James and Jan, a couple from Gosforth who were shopping in Newcastle this morning.
James said: "I think it’s shocking that the wait is 29 minutes. We came on the metro but we didn’t wait long. We must have got lucky. I think we’ll get the bus home from Haymarket instead."
A couple visiting from Stirling, who did not wish to be named, were also affected by the disruption. The couple had planned on visiting the North East coast, but have had to change their plans due to the disruption. "We picked the wrong day to visit by the looks of it. We’ve just come down for a few days. We're just really taking in what’s here. We might go to the Angel of the North or the Baltic instead."
In a statement, Kevin Storey, Metro Operations Director, said: "We’ve been experiencing major disruption to Metro services today, Friday 8 November.
"The disruption has been caused by a power outage at Gosforth Metro Depot just before 5am which meant we couldn’t put trains into service.
"We were able to start putting some of our trains into service by 5.16am
"The power supply issue then created a problem with the Metro signalling control system.
"This has meant we have only been able to get a limited number of trains into service so far today. Our team at the Metro Control are working with external providers to resolve this now with an aim to resume a fuller service asap.
"I’m grateful to customers for their patience during this ongoing period of service disruption and I apologise for any inconvenience."
