Sidings for new Metro trains completed at the new Gosforth Depot

On 10 November 2023, the final stabling areas for all 46 new Metro trains is in the final stages of completion with all tracks successfully installed as part of the 70 million GBP rebuild of Gosforth Depot. The old Metro depot buildings were demolished over the summer to make way for the new sidings, which will provide the required space to stable the new Stadler trains when they are not being used for service. The completion of this latest phase of the depot construction work is another important step towards the Gosforth Dept construction project being completed.  

A total of 17 new sidings for train stabling have been created over the entire area of the Gosforth depot site – which has been home to the Tyne and Wear Metro for 43 years. The final eight new sidings, which are areas of newly installed track, located where the depot’s old maintenance sheds once stood, were completed this week. The installation of new overhead lines, signalling equipment, walkways and lighting is in progress, in preparation for a line closure in January where the contact wire will be installed and energised so the sidings can be entered into service.

The new Metro depot is nearing completion. The new train wash is in place and by February the project is planned to be completed. Clinton Smith, Project Manager at VolkerFitzpatrick commented: “We’re proud to be completing the development of a world-class depot. The complexities of this type of project were many and varied, not least as a result of the need for the works to be programmed around the planned day-to-day operations of the depot, providing servicing and stabling facilities for the Metro system, while the construction works were taking place.

The success of this project relied not only upon careful coordination, planning and management of all the multidisciplined subcontract delivery team, but also the commitment, capabilities, expertise and collaboration provided by those subcontractors in working as a group to ensure the success of this large-scale project, alongside both Stadler and Nexus.”

The new Gosforth depot has been designed to ensure maximum availability and reliability of the Class 555 fleet for decades to come. It will vastly improve the working environment and become home to a wide range of activities, including preventative and corrective maintenance, overhauls and train presentation. There will be storage for spare parts and material supplies and office space for training and support functions. The new Gosforth Metro depot has been constructed on behalf of Stadler by VolkerFitzPatrick.