Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Class 555
Stadler's five-car articulated trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro, the first new fleet since the Metro opened. Sliding steps at all eight doorways a side give level boarding, the cars are open from end to end, and batteries let a train move on without power from the wires. The seats run along the sides, and 44 CCTV cameras watch the cars (Nexus).
Scale
197 ft (59.9 m) over couplers
Class 555 · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/t-w-555/ · CC BY 4.0
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- Type
- Electric multiple unit (articulated metro train)
- Builder
- Stadler (Stadler Rail Group, Bussnang, and Stadler Rheintal, St. Margrethen, Switzerland)
- In service
- since 2024
- Lines
- Tyne and Wear Metro
- Formation
- 5 cars, articulated and walk-through, 197 ft (59.90 m) over the couplers, on six bogies: a trailer bogie under each cab and Jacobs motor bogies at the four articulations
- Trains in fleet
- 46
- Top speed
- 50 mph (80 km/h)
- Power
- 1,500 V DC overhead; 942 kW continuous and 1,320 kW maximum at the wheel; starting acceleration 1.2 m/s², maximum axle load 12.5 t; traction batteries for running in an emergency without power, prepared for larger ones (Stadler) · how it works
- Bogies
- Stadler's Jacobs motor bogies at the Class 555's articulations; Stadler's trailer bogies under the Class 555's cabs (outside frames, air secondary suspension, magnetic track brake)
- Train length
- 197 ft (59.90 m)
- Car height
- 11 ft 4 in (3.445 m)
- Car width
- 8 ft 8 in (2.65 m)
- Profile
- main-line
- Walk-through
- Yes
- Air-conditioned
- Yes
- Seats per train
- 116
- Total capacity
- 116 seats including tip-ups and 450 standing (Stadler, 2022)
- Status
- In service: 46 units, bought by Nexus with 35 years' maintenance by Stadler (RAIL): 42 ordered in January 2020 (Stadler) and four more in 2021, paid for by the Transforming Cities Fund (RailAdvent). They were delivered from February 2023 to 21 February 2026 (Nexus), and the first carried passengers on 18 December 2024 (RAIL). Nexus expected all 46 to be available for service by the end of 2026; they have run almost the whole timetable since the Metrocars' last guaranteed day in service, 26 June 2026 (Nexus).
Before this train
The Metrocars worked the Metro from its opening in August 1980. The Class 555s took over from them in 2025-26, and the last guaranteed Metrocar runs in passenger service were on Friday 26 June 2026.
Now Class 555 since 2024 · 197 ft (59.9 m) · 5 cars · 116 seats
Before Metrocar (Class 599) 1980–2026 · 91 ft (27.8 m) · 2 cars · 64 seats
Drawn at one scale, from their recorded dimensions. Compare them in full →
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Driving car (A) | 47 ft 1 in14.351 m | 2 double |
| B | Intermediate car (B and D) | 34 ft 1 in10.399 m | 1 double |
| C | Centre car (C) | 34 ft 1 in10.40 m | 2 double |
| E | Driving car (E) | 47 ft 1 in14.351 m | 2 double |
Sources
How we source figures → · Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)
Show the 12 sources from Wikimedia Commons, Nexus, Stadler and 3 more
- METRO EMU, Nexus, Tyne and Wear, UK (data sheet MNEX0522e) Stadler, 2022order (January 2020); 1,500 V DC; axle arrangement; 197 ft × 8 ft 8 in × 11 ft 4 in (59,900 x 2,650 x 3,445 mm); floor 3 ft 1 in (940 mm); eight 4 ft 7 in (1,400 mm) doorways a side; 116 seats, 450 standing; wheelbases and wheels; output; 80 km/h (50 mph); batteries; maximum axle load 12.5 t; starting acceleration 1.2 m/s² (p. 2)
- All 46 new Metro trains are delivered Nexus, 24 February 202646 trains; the first delivered in February 2023, the last on 21 February 2026; linear seating and 44 CCTV cameras
- First Class 555 EMU enters service on Tyne and Wear Metro RAIL (railmagazine.com), 18 December 2024first in passenger service, 555021 on 18 December 2024; 46 ordered, £362 million with maintenance
- Four more units added to Nexus order for brand new trains with Stadler RailAdvent (Jamie Duggan), 11 September 2021four more units ordered in 2021 on top of the 42, taking the order to 46, paid for by the Transforming Cities Fund
- Metro's original train fleet nears the end of its time in service Nexus (Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive), 2 June 2026all 46 expected to be available for service by the end of 2026; almost all daily services on the new trains (2 June 2026)
- Long serving Metro driver 'proud' to drive the last old train Nexus, 27 June 2026the last old trains' last day, 26 June 2026
- METRO EMU, Nexus, Tyne and Wear, UK (data sheet MNEX0522e) Stadler, 2022, p. 2side elevation (measured): car bodies, articulations, bogies, doors, windows, roof equipment, pantograph, cab, cases under the floor
- 'Class 555 METRO EMU - 54784336223.jpg' (photograph: 555002 on test, near side-on with a long lens, from the cab end; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Samson Ng, via Flickr), 25 July 2025livery placing and colours (layout and colour only)
- '555018 South Gosforth 140526.jpg' (photograph: 555018's cab end at three-quarters; CC0) Wikimedia Commons (Black Kite), 14 May 2026the cab-door side, livery colours (layout and colour only)
- 'Br class555 002 arth-goldau XAM-E1 (cropped).jpg' (photograph: 555002 near side-on at night; CC BY 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (LigioWiki), 9 November 2022the bands' heights, near side-on (layout only)
- 'BR Class 555 coupling.jpg' (photograph: the cab-end automatic coupler close up; CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Kecko, via Flickr), 9 January 2025the cab-end coupler's colours (layout and colour only)
- A Guide to Overhead Electrification (132787-ALB-GUN-EOH-000001, rev 10) Network Rail (prepared by Alan Baxter), February 2015, p. 39the contact wire in the In operation drawing: 15 ft 5 in (4.7 m) above rail, Network Rail's normal height
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unverified
- Unit numbers 555001-555046: the photographs show 555002, 555003, 555004, 555018, 555021 and others; no list was found from Nexus
- Built: no construction dates or works were found beyond Stadler's St. Margrethen and Bussnang addresses on the sheet; the units were delivered from February 2023 to 21 February 2026 (Nexus)
- Car names: neither Stadler nor Nexus names the cars; A to E, and which are motor cars, follow the sheet's axle arrangement (2'(Bo)'(Bo)'(Bo)'(Bo)'2': every Jacobs bogie powered, the bogies under the cabs trailers)
- Car lengths: measured off Stadler's vector side view (true to its printed length, height and wheelbases within 0.5%); Stadler prints no car lengths
- The livery's heights and the raked edges are read off photographs against the measured doors and windows, to about 50 mm; the grey's front edge differs by about 100 mm between the two sides photographed, and is drawn alike
- Which side of the unit the sheet draws: not stated; car A's cab door is on that side
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