Transport operator Nexus hosts global rail event

A North East public transport operator has welcomed rail industry leaders from around the world to share expertise and explore the future of urban transit.

Nexus hosted the Community of Metros (COMET) annual Western Conference at its new headquarters at The Spark, in Newcastle.

The three-day event brought together 42 delegates from 17 cities, representing metro systems across Europe, North America, South America and Asia.

Attendees took part in roundtable discussions, member updates and keynote presentations focused on best practice, innovation and the challenges facing modern light rail networks.

The conference also included visits to key Nexus facilities, including Gosforth Metro Depot, where delegates were given an insight into the operator’s new fleet of Stadler trains, and the Nexus Learning Centre in South Shields.

Representatives travelled from cities including New York, Washington DC, Montreal, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Oslo, Tokyo, Taipei, New Delhi and Buenos Aires.

Cathy Massarella, managing director of Nexus, said: “We’re honoured to have hosted this COMET conference right here in our region.

“It brought together Metro operators from around the world so that we could benchmark our services and share knowledge, ideas and innovations from across the global light rail industry.

“We welcomed delegates to North East England from North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. It’s great to see how other operators are doing and what we can learn from each other.

“Nexus is proud members of the COMET group as the operator of the Tyne and Wear Metro, which cements our place in that unique club of world cities to run an urban light rail mass transit system.”

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