Commuters faced chaos on the Metro just 24 hours before a two-day strike is due to bring the entire network to a halt.
A section of the Metro was closed throughout Thursday after 300m of overhead lines collapsed, suspending services between South Gosforth and Newcastle Airport.
The wires came down between Regent Centre and Wansbeck Road at just after 11pm on Wednesday, causing one train in the area to become entangled.
Work went on overnight but Nexus was forced to suspend services between Newcastle Airport and South Gosforth initially for Thursday morning but it soon became clear the closure would remain in force all day.
A spokesman said: "Metro services between Airport and Regent Centre are to remain suspended for the rest of the day.
"This is due to a 300m section of overhead line coming down between Wansbeck Road and Regent Centre.
"Engineers are carrying out repairs but these are going to take the remainder of today to complete.
"A replacement bus service will remain in service in the affected area for the rest of the day.
"We’re sorry the inconvenience caused to passengers."
The fault comes just one day before Metro drivers in the RMT union will shut down the entire Tyne and Wear network for two full days on Friday and Saturday, amid an ongoing dispute with Nexus.
In a bitter row over pay and contract conditions, drivers in the RMT union will walk out on Friday, December 20 and Saturday, December 21 - what are expected to be two of the busiest days of the year.
This Friday is known as Black Eye Friday and Saturday see's Newcastle United play Crystal Palace at St James' Park.
There will be no Metro trains at all. However, bus operators have pledged bigger and more frequent services.
This week, union chiefs accused Nexus bosses of lying about a 15% pay rise offer.
RMT regional organiser Micky Thompson has rejected Nexus' claims that the union turned down a pay rise offer that would take drivers’ salaries to £46,000 by 2022.
Metro bosses say that the union “seems confused” about what it wants and insist they have offered “a very good pay rise and new more flexible shift patterns” to reduce the service’s reliance on drivers working overtime.
What do Nexus and the RMT disagree on?
Nexus believes that there are two areas of outstanding disagreement with the RMT, out of a total 26 points relating to drivers’ terms and rostering. Those are:
- The RMT wanting a maximum shift length of nine hours for those shifts that finish after 10pm;
- The RMT also want a maximum driving time of three and a half hours before drivers they get a break. Nexus wants that to be four and a half hours.
The RMT’s Micky Thompson has cited a number of further areas of dispute, including:
- The flexibility of ‘spare’ drivers to work shifts;
- Nexus wanting to extend drivers’ contractual notice period to 12 weeks;
- Nexus wanting to pay newly-trained drivers a lower salary for their first two years;
- Nexus wanting drivers pay back the costs of their training if they leave the organisation.
However, Mr Thompson added that individual items of disagreement were irrelevant because they had to come as part of a whole package and Nexus has made “no offer”.
