Nexus wants to renationalise the Tyne and Wear Metro operating contact for two years, as part of a 'long-term strategy to develop the system'.

Nexus is seeking endorsement from Leaders of the North East Combined Authority to manage Metro operations directly for two years from April 2017, once the current contract has expired.

Although Nexus has the contractual right to extend the current contract for a further two years, it said it 'did not wish to exercise this option'.

It is instead proposing to manage train operations and stations directly until 2019, allowing it to prepare for significant changes that will come with investment in a new train fleet.

It said both Nexus and the operator, DB Regio Tyne and Wear Ltd, 'are dissatisfied with the structure and the financial and operational performance of the current contract, as passenger outcomes are not where either party would want them to be'. 

Nexus has agreed investment with DB Regio to improve fleet performance and customer service for Metro’s 40 million passengers over the final year of the contract.

Nexus, as a public body, already sets fares and service specifications for Metro as well as maintaining most of the infrastructure on which trains run.

Under the proposals it would manage the stations and train operations directly from 2017 until 2019, when a new and different contract would begin incorporating delivery of a new train fleet during the first half of the next decade.