On 1 April 2017 the operation of the Tyne and Wear Metro finally returned to public provision. The North East Combined Authority decided not to extend the Deutsche Bahn 7-year operational contract for a further two years because of dissatisfaction with service performance. A new fleet of trains is planned in the next few years, however, the government is insisting on retendering the contract in 2019. RMT General Secretary Mike Cash said “The union is demanding that there is no repeat of the privatisation mistake and that the Metro service is now permanently returned to the public sector – run as a public service in the public interest.” 86% of a ChronicleLive public poll last year voted for the Metro to stay publicly run. An ESSU briefing ‘Not Fit to Run the Metro’ for the Northern TUC, UNISON and UNITE exposed Deutsche Bahn’s track record in Germany in 2009 prior to the contract.
