The Tyne and Wear Metro network is 25 years old

The 25-year-old light rail network - the UK's largest outside London - is suffering from degradation, operator Nexus has said.

Nexus and the leaders of Tyne and Wear's five district councils were in London on Wednesday to lobby ministers.

The government was being told that the network needs �500m over the next 20 years.

Nexus director general, Mike Parker, said: "Work we have done has shown that spending money on upgrading the Metro is the most cost effective way of attracting people out of their cars.

"If we are to attract the car users of 2015 and 2025, we need to change the quality of what we offer, particularly in stations, rolling stock and waiting areas. Major investment in Metro, for these reasons, is critical."

Local economy

Chairman of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority David Wood, said: "Metro has begun to show its age in recent years and is suffering from degradation.

"There are increasing service failure and infrastructure faults as elements of the network reach the end of their design life.

"If Metro was to degrade or cease operation, Tyne and Wear would become one of the few major urban areas in the UK without a permanent public transport system, thus reducing its competitive position in the market place as a tourist destination and place to live, work and study."

Tyne Bridge MP David Clelland said: "If we are to reduce the impact of growing congestion on our roads, local economy and environment then we must have high quality public transport on all major traffic corridors. Metro reinvigoration would really make that happen."

Nexus has put together a 20-year programme to ensure the Metro network survives - dubbed Project Orpheus.

Planned improvements include a new fleet of state of the art vehicles, new signalling, improved ticketing and station equipment, revamped stations and more track dualling.

The Tyne and Wear Metro was the UK's first light rapid transit system and serves the cities of Sunderland and Newcastle as well as Gateshead and districts of North and South Tyneside.

The system has 58 stations, employs about 700 staff and carries more than 37 million passengers each year.