Nexus have explained why things keep going wrong with the Metro - and promised news on replacement trains in a matter of weeks.
A section of the network between Benton and Tynemouth was closed for several hours last night when 10m of overhead wires came down.
An exact cause for last night's drama is yet to be established but Nexus believe it was simply down to the age of the wire.
Some of the infrastructure used to power the trains is 40 years old, making failures inevitable.
Nexus say they are spending £20m to replace 106 kilometres of wire, giving hope to customers the recurring problem might become less frequent after a month of woes for passengers.
Swathes of the network were out of order for five days when two overhead line problems occurred on the same night on April 29.
On that occasion the damage was caused by a faulty train, but Nexus say they are closing in on finding a company to rebuild the ailing rolling stock.
A spokesperson told ChronicleLive there will be progress on selecting a manufacturer to build the new Metro trains in June.
Five companies are bidding for the £500m contract to build and maintain the replacement fleet but that should be whittled down to three in the coming weeks.
Nexus expect to announced who will be awarded the contract by the end of the year.
Managing director of Nexus, Tobyn Hughes, said: "Over the last nine years Nexus has spent £300m renewing the infrastructure of the Metro system and this project renewing overhead lines is one of the biggest in all of that.
"It is about £20m in total and it will take several years to get across the system renewing these overhead wires.
"We always try to do this work at weekends because there are fewer passengers using the system and not as many people travelling to work.
"I understand that it causes some disruption for customers and we always try to make closures as short as possible and to provide a good replacement bus service when there are lines affected, but it is necessary to make sure that the Metro system is fit for the future."
The five companies vying to build the new trains are:
- Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd
- Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A. (CAF)
- Downer EDI Rail Pty Ltd – a joint venture between Downer EDI Rail and CRRC Changchun - Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd)
- Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd
- Stadler Bussnang AG
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