Tyne & Wear Metro operator Nexus has hosted the annual western conference of the Community of Metros benchmarking group, bringing urban rail operators from around the world together in Newcastle to share ideas and innovations.
COMET provides a forum for metro organisations to discuss their experiences in a collaborative environment. An important factor is a commitment to open information exchange within the group, but with complete confidentiality to the outside world to overcome any political and commercial sensitivities.
The three-day conference based at Nexus’ headquarters in The Spark building in early June included roundtable discussions, member updates and keynote speeches. There were organised visits to the Nexus Learning Centre in South Shields and to see the Stadler trainsets at Gosforth depot
The 42 delegates in Newcastle came from Buenos Aires, Washington DC, New Delhi, London, Lisboa, Madrid, Montréal, New York, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Taipei and Vancouver.
‘It’s great to see how other operators are doing and what we can learn from each other’, said Nexus Managing Director Cathy Massarella.
COMET is one of a family of benchmarking groups facilitated by the Transport Strategy Centre at Imperial College London.
These include the International Suburban Rail Benchmarking Group (ISBeRG), Benchmarking Group of North American Light Rail Systems (GOAL), International Mainline Rail Benchmarking Group (IMRBG), Railway Infrastructure Asset Management Benchmarking Group (RIAMBiG) and the International Light Rail & Tram Benchmarking Group (BOLTS), as well as bus groups.