Metro Go Legal Services Support

Award outcome

Description

Nexus requires suitably qualified and experienced legal advisors who will be appointed to a seven year contract with an option to extend for up to a further three years to support Nexus on the Metro Go project. This will involve, amongst other associated workstreams, a project to plan, procure, design, construct, commission and safely operate a new signalling system for the Tyne and Wear Metro Network. The anticipated tender release date is 24 November 2025. Subject to approval of the Outline Business Case (OBC) by Government in due course in respect of funding for Metro Go, the legal retainer is expected to encompass the advice required to prepare the content of the OBC and then implement the agreed strategies within it during the procurement and delivery phases. The exact scope of work during the contract term will be subject to the timely progress of the project. The legal advisors will be required to have strong levels of experience across the rail sector (and/or the transport sector more generally) and ideally have recent experience of advising on signalling renewal and/or other major infrastructure technology renewal projects. The Metro Go Project Metro Go is the project name for one of Nexus' biggest projects to date in terms of size and scale. The project will replace Nexus' outdated signalling system with a modern, technologically advanced system that befits an operational light transit rail network (the Metro Network). Whilst Nexus has already invested in a new rolling-stock fleet of class 555 units, to ensure that the Metro units can operate efficiently, it is essential that a new signalling system is designed and implemented across the Metro Network. The signalling system is an essential and safety critical component of the Metro Network that must align and interface with all trains and other existing infrastructure on the Metro Network. Understanding these interfaces will be critical to ensuring the success of Metro Go and of ensuring that impacts on operational service are minimised during delivery phases. Nexus requires legal advisors who understand these interfaces and who will pre-emptively assist in managing the associated legal/commercial risks throughout the Metro Go project. Nexus expects to see a senior technology lawyer included as part of the proposed delivery team as well as a willingness by its appointed advisors to attend key meetings in person (i.e. in Newcastle and other locations across Tyne and Wear) throughout the Metro Go project. The legal advisors will, as part of a cross-disciplinary project team, interface directly with Nexus' internal legal team representatives and other third-party consultant advisors, as required. Nexus' current signalling system has served it well over the past 40 years. But technology has changed and the relevant parts needed to maintain and renew the current signalling system are getting more difficult to obtain. The rail industry has changed more widely with the onset of digital signalling. Nexus must ensure that it keeps pace with these developments and its plans for a new signalling system are expected to transform its business, change the way it operates day to day and enhance Nexus' service to its customers. Overall, it will also make the Metro Network more reliable for customers. The current project estimate for Metro Go is around £430m with the introduction of the new signalling system expected to be operational from 2030. Timescales and Funding Funding for the Metro Go project will be secured through a Business Case that aligns to the Government's Green Book guidelines. Nexus submitted the SOC to Government in October 2024 with the funding for the project confirmed by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2025, subject to a satisfactory OBC. The anticipated timescales for the project can be seen in the attached document.

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About Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive T/A Nexus

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