After 30 years service on the Tyne and Wear Metro, a track tamping vehicle is set to find a new home in the Far East.
Nexus, which manages the light rail system, has sold the maintenance vehicle to Polish rolling stock firm Newag, after buying a new £2.3 million tamper as part of a modernisation programme in 2014.
Newag specialises in modernising old rolling stock and intends to sell the 40 tonne vehicle to an operator in South East Asia.
The vehicle departed from a railway yard in North Shields on the back of a low loader on December 18. It will be taken to Germany to a refurbishment depot.
Just about ready for the off here at our Hylton Street
rail yard in North Shields. The tamper weighs 32,000 Kilos. The Low Loader will
take it to a ferry from Hull later today. pic.twitter.com/XRqGJX1NbP— Tyne and Wear Metro (@My_Metro) December 18, 2017
The track tamping vehicle is used to sustain track geometry levels and alignment in accordance with UK rail industry standards.
Nexus director of rail and infrastructure Raymond Johnstone said: “It is a vehicle that the public may not have often seen in use, as the bulk of its operations were during the night when Metro services were not running.
“A tamper is needed to keep the Metro tracks in tip top condition so that they can carry passenger services smoothly for the 38 million people who use the Metro every year.”
Farewell! The tamper makes its way out on to the roads of North Tyneside earlier today. Rest assured our correspondent wasn’t as close to the front of the wagon as it appears in the clip! 🚇😂 pic.twitter.com/GjpqWyq9NO
— Tyne and Wear Metro (@My_Metro) December 18, 2017
Read more: First look at CAF’s new rolling stock factory in Wales