A local Jesmond councillor has welcomed the awarding of a contract to build new Metro trains.

Arlene Ainsley, South Jesmond ward councillor and Newcastle City Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Air Quality, described the new contract as good news for Jesmond’s residents.

The contract, unveiled last week by Nexus in Gateshead, will provide an initial order of 42 trains, equipped with Wi-Fi, charging points, as reported previously by JesmondLocal.

The project is predicted to cost £362m, with the Department for Transport providing £337m of grant funding towards the new trains. Nexus predict that the total value of the partnership with Stadler could eventually reach £700m over 35 years.

Cllr Ainsley added that it is hoped the new trains “will convince more people to leave their cars at home, supporting the council’s air quality and climate change aims, and helping us create a happier, healthier and more environmentally friendly place to live, work and visit.”

Nexus have provided a 3D walkthrough for those interested in finding out more about how the trains will look.

Cllr Ainsley added that the trains “will provide attractive, more accessible and more reliable trains, offering a more comfortable environment in which to travel.”

Nexus claim the new trains will cut Metro’s power consumption by 30%, while providing 15 times greater reliability than the current issue-ridden fleet.

Tobyn Hughes, Managing Director of Nexus, told JesmondLocal the trains are “based on what local people said they wanted to see, providing excellent reliability for years to come, transforming the passenger experience and delivering huge energy savings.”

The promise for greater reliability comes in the wake of Nexus fielding criticism for system-wide disruption, as, on January 30th, two days after the new contract was announced, all trains were halted for over an hour due to a control room fault.

Passengers’ tickets were accepted on rail replacement buses during the break in service.

A Freedom of Information request answered on 2 July 2019 of last year found that unplanned replacement bus services had cost Nexus £74.2m since the start of 2017. It is expected that the new Stadler-built trains will help combat this issue.

The decision was made to award the £337m contract to Stadler after an 18-month worlwdie search, with competitors CAF and Hitachi Rail lost out in the final stage.

According to Stadler, the contract is still within a 10-day objection period, which gives the unsuccessful bidders the opportunity to appeal the decision.

The decision has not been without its objectors, as Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen called it a “disgraceful decision,” saying that the contract should have been rewarded to the North-East based Hitachi Rail, instead of being built in St Margrethen in north east Switzerland.

Andy McDonald, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, opposed the decision, saying there should be “an industrial strategy that allows UK companies to win these contracts.”

The new trains are expected to be in operation by 2024, as Nexus’s current fleet, which date back to the 1970s, are to be decommissioned.