THE Tyne and Wear Metro system could grind to a halt without more Government money, transport officials warned yesterday.

The 25-year-old light rail network - the UK's largest outside London - is in urgent need of investment, said operator Nexus.

Nexus and the leaders of Tyne and Wear's five district councils are lobbying the Government for £500m investment in the network over the next 20 years.

Nexus director general Mike Parker said: "Work we have done has shown that spending money on upgrading the Metro is the most cost-effective way of attracting people out of their cars.

''Major investment in the Metro, for these reasons, is critical."

David Wood, chairman of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, said: "The Metro has begun to show its age in recent years and is suffering from degradation, with increasing service failure and infrastructure faults as elements of the network reach the end of their design life."

Tyne Bridge MP David Clelland said: ''If we are to reduce the impact of growing congestion on our roads, local economy and environment, then we must have high quality public transport on all major traffic corridors.

"Metro reinvigoration would really make that happen."

Nexus has put together a 20-year programme to ensure the Metro network survives, known as Project Orpheus. Planned improvements include a new fleet of modern vehicles, new signalling, improved ticketing and station equipment, revamped stations and more track dualling.

The Metro was the UK's first light rapid transit system and serves Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead and districts of North and South Tyneside.

The system has 58 stations, employs about 700 staff and carries more than 37 million passengers each year.

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