A window of one of the Tyne and Wear Metro’s new trains was smashed this week, in the first major act of vandalism against the Swiss-made carriages.
Pictures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show the glass shattered on the window of a train on Tuesday afternoon.
It is thought that the damage was caused by a missile thrown at the train at around 2.30pm on Tuesday, June 15, as it passed through the Tynemouth and Cullercoats area.
The incident has now been reported to the police and Metro operator Nexus said it would check all available footage, using the train’s 44 CCTV cameras, to help find the perpetrator.
While the Stadler-built fleet has been targeted by graffiti artists as the trains have made their way to the North East, this is thought to be the first significant damage caused by vandals to a new Metro train.
Kevin Storey, operations director at Nexus, said: “One of our new Metro trains was vandalised on Tuesday afternoon, 15 July, when one of its windows was damaged.
“The train was withdrawn from service and returned to Gosforth Depot so that Stadler could repair it. It has now been returned to service.
“This appears to be criminal damage and has been reported to Northumbria Police.
“All available CCTV will be checked to pin point the offenders. The new Metro trains have 44 advanced digital CCTV cameras, including 28 on board the carriage and 16 exterior ones, providing us with greater clarity on what happened when incidents like this occur.
“Anyone who gets caught damaging Metro trains faces going to court, a substantial fine, and even the possibility of a custodial sentence.”
Northumbria Police confirmed it had received a report of criminal damage to a Metro train and that enquiries are ongoing.
It is hoped that the rollout of the new fleet of 46 trains will be completed by end of next year, completely replacing the Metro’s existing stock.
Transport chiefs have long promised that the modern fleet will be a major upgrade in terms of reliability and comfort for passengers, while there are also plans to extend the rail system to Washington.
There have been issues with the Stadler fleet in recent weeks, however, with their air con systems suffering leaks during hot weather and an incident in which a train’s doors opened on the wrong side
