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Nexus holds supplier awareness day for £8m rail skills centre

Posted: 18 October 2016 | Katie Sadler, Digital Content Producer, Intelligent Transport | No comments yet

Nexus, operators of the Tyne and Wear Metro, have held a market awareness day for suppliers interested in the design and build of a proposed rail skills centre for the region.

Nexus Tyne and Wear Metro

Nexus, operators of the Tyne and Wear Metro, have held a market awareness day for suppliers interested in the design and build of a proposed rail skills centre for the region.

Tyne and Wear Metro rail skills centre

Nexus has submitted final plans for a Metro Maintenance and Renewals Skills Centre to provide training for more than 1,000 people working on the Metro, including contractors involved in the £350m modernisation of the urban rail system used by 40 million passengers a year.

Rail skills centre to provide training for over 1,000 people working on Metro

The rail skills centre approval is currently awaiting outline planning permission and funding being secured through the Local Growth Fund. If given the green light, the centre would be built around existing Metro sidings in South Shields, on the site of the town’s original railway station.

In order to generate interest, Nexus held a market awareness day at Newcastle’s Centre for Life attracting 20 firms from around the North East and UK.

Raymond Johnstone, Director of Rail and Infrastructure at Nexus, said: “A new Skills Centre would allow us to raise the standard of training we offer to Metro staff, contractors and industry partners.

“The site in South Shields offers an excellent location on the existing Metro network.  The town centre is already enjoying major regeneration through South Tyneside Council’s 365 Masterplan and we are partners in building a new transport interchange.

“We have been keen to talk to potential suppliers about the opportunity this represents as an engineering and construction project.”

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