MetroNewisle

**MetroNewisle** is a government agency responsible for public transportation in the City of Newisle and its surrounding area. It operates the citywide Metro system, and works in tandem with Regional Express Rail (RER) to provide public service to residents in Metropolitan Newisle, including the city itself, and towns in the states of Forrestal and Everson.

## History

### Original System

The Newisle Metro system has been operational since the city was first built. Since its original establishment, stations were rebuilt, repositioned, or completely demolished as the city began to grow and change. Evidence of old metro lines exist especially in the East, where entire tunnels and stations are buried underground and left abandoned, only rediscovered within 2020.

### Re-Establishment Era

Refurbishment of Newisle's public transportation was one of the foremost projects of the 2020 Re-Establishment. Newisle's Metro and commuter rail systems were extremely outdated and on the brink of collapse, with small stations, failing infrastructure, and difficult navigation systems. In 2020, MetroNewisle began systemwide reconstruction, which included rebuilding and refurbishing all 36 Metro stations. Many Metro stations were renamed in order to better reflect the new reorganised districts they served. The stations were updated to a more modern and light feel, and a uniform signage system was implemented across the network for easy navigation. Many above-ground river crossings were submerged, either through the reactivation of existing abandoned tunnels, or by boring out completely new ones. These improvements have since put MetroNewisle on track to becoming a LEED Gold certified system.

In late 2020, changes in wayfinding signage began across the network in order for better legibility. Customers found the station and onboard signage's mostly black-text to be difficult to read from afar, too text heavy, and lacking in consistent sign placement. As a result, MetroNewisle changed its format to display only the most needed information, and altered signage appearance from black to white text, included bolded arrows, and where necessary, displayed priority information in bright yellow. In addition, the hierarchy of information was changed to included only the most useful information on signs, and increase the number of signs in stations and on tracks to increase the ease of navigation.

The change was welcomed by Metro riders and praised for its increased legibility. Although many stations now utilise the updated signage format, Metro stations that were refurbished at the very beginning of the Re-Establishment still display the original format. As a result, several stations are scheduled to be updated.

## Metro System

MetroNewisle operates 7 underground and 5 above-ground Metro lines, making a total of 12. Underground lines are powered by third rail and identified throughout the system by the U- prefix before its designated line number. Above-ground surface lines are powered by catenary lines and identified by the S- prefix. Original Re-Establishment Era plans to recolor the lines were suspended in July 2020 in favor of the current color-coded designations to avoid confusion.

## Other Facilities

MetroNewisle operates a maintenance and storage yard on the grounds of Port Columbia, which includes both a power generation annex and connections to both the separated surface and underground systems. There is also a storage yard on the U-1 Line at Castle Centre station, which was reduced in size sometime in 2020.