Mozart and Bach could be piped into Tyne and Wear Metro stations 'to sooth' commuters

Classical music is set to be piped into some stations on the Tyne and Wear Metro to create a more "soothing" environment for passengers.

Operators Nexus are considering bringing back the feature, which died out about 20 years ago.

Commuters in some areas may have noticed the works of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart playing through the tannoy in recent weeks as the system is tested.

In 1997, classical music was played at Shiremoor station in an effort to deter gangs of youths from congregating there and causing trouble.

Deemed a success, it was rolled out at 12 stops but was stopped in the early 2000s when the network's public address system was updated.

Metro operator Nexus indicated that a potential reintroduction of classical music was not directly linked to hotspots of anti-social behaviour, with train security teams and a new text message reporting system having been brought in recently to combat such incidents, but that anything to make passengers “feel more comfortable” could only help.

It has not yet been decided which stations the music will be played at, though Nexus said it would be unsuitable for certain stops that are very close to people’s homes.

Huw Lewis, customer services director at Nexus, said: “We are thinking about bringing back classical music at some stations, so customers may have noticed our engineers running some trials across the network. 

"A few people have been in touch asking if we could play music on Metro to help create a soothing and warmer environment when they are waiting for trains. I often think it makes you feel like you are waiting a bit less time, as well! 

“It’s a good idea but there’s a few things we need to think through first; the PA systems are primarily there for announcements and we can’t interfere with that, we don’t want to introduce anything which disturbs our neighbours in suburban areas, and there are quite rightly licence costs for playing music.

“We’d be interested to hear from Metro customers on what they think of the idea and, if they have heard these technical trials, what difference it made. Once the current trial period is completed and we’ve seen what people think we’ll decide what we do next, and where we might play music.”

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