Howdon Satellite Depot
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Howdon Satellite Depot (HSD) is a secondary depot for stabling the Tyne and Wear Metro fleet. It is capable of light maintenance but does not have all the necessary maintenance facilities that the main depot, Gosforth Depot, has.
Location
[edit | edit source]The depot occupies approximately 2.5 hectares of land in a former Howdon landfill site,[1] bound by the A19 to the west, the A187 to the east, and part of the Yellow Line between Howdon and Percy Main stations to the north.
Usage
[edit | edit source]
As well as stabling and light maintenance of Metro's passenger fleet, Howdon Depot also has an access point for removing trains from and delivering trains to the Metro network. It has been used for all metrocar disposals (except for 4022, which was disposed before Howdon Depot was built), and for delivering at least one road-rail vehicle (the rail grinder FJ20FOD).[OR]
Layout and facilities
[edit | edit source]The depot is made up of ten stabling roads at the northeast of the site, a maintenance shed at the southern end of the stabling roads, staff facilities extended from the south side of the shed, staff car parking (25 spaces) south of the staff facilities, a headshunt at the northwest of the site, a road-rail access point ahead of the shed, a substation to the west of the stabling roads, and an access road leading to a Tyne Tunnel service road.[1][2]
Each stabling road, and the maintenance shed, is large enough for either a single Class 555 unit or a pair of metrocars.
The staff facilities include (from west to east) the depot control room, the booking-on-point office, an additional office, a mess room, gendered changing rooms, a locker room, a cleaner's room, a drying room, waste storage, and a server room.[3]
The depot also has 1.2 acres of land to the west dedicated to dingy skippers.[4]
Dingy skipper habitat
[edit | edit source]An ecological impact assessment (EcIA) carried out in May 2017 consistently recorded dingy skippers utilising open mosaic habitats that had established across the former landfill site.[5] As a result, one of the conditions for building Howdon Depot was that a habitat was built for the dingy skippers which inhabited the site.[4]
The EcIA specifically predicted that the original design for the new depot would retain approximately 0.4 hectares of the short perennial grassland used by the dingy skippers. A later design increased this figure to approximately 0.7 hectares. The unavoidable loss of dingy skipper habitat on the land was reduced from approximately 0.8 to 0.5 hectares. Two of Nexus' consultants, E3 Ecology[6] and Atkins, prepared ecological mitigation strategies for the depot in 2018 and 2019.[7] The initial plan was to translocate the habitat to a 1.75 hectare site owned by TT2 Limited. However, ground investigation surveys found asbestos, making it illegal to move the contaminated material to a third-party site.[8]
The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management shortlisted Nexus, Atkins, Conops Entomology, and EcoNorth for a "Best Practice Award" in the "Small-Scale Project Mitigation, Compensation and Enhancement" category for the project. While they didn't win the award, they were assigned a "Highly Commended" status.[7] Atkins undertook surveys of the whole site and counted the butterflies, supporting the Butterfly Conservation's "Big Butterfly Count".[4]
Access
[edit | edit source]Howdon Depot is linked by rail to Howdon station via Howdon Depot Junction (HDJ). It can also be accessed from Percy Main station by turning around from a small staff-only platform before Howdon station.[OR]
On foot or road, the depot is accessed from a single entrance from the Tyne Tunnel service road.[1]
History
[edit | edit source]E3 Ecology Ltd was commissioned by Kier Group in April 2017 to undertake an ecological impact assessment (EcIA) of the site, which was later approved to become a service vehicle maintenance depot operated by North Tyneside Council.[9] The EcIA included "bat activity surveys and static monitoring, watercourse, invertebrate, botanical, breeding birds and reptile survey".[5]
On 19 July 2016, the North East Combined Authority (now the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority) approved Nexus' "Metro Futures" strategy which, in addition to a new fleet of trains that became the Class 555 fleet, also included an interest in updated depot facilities.[10] On 8 June 2018, an open tender was launched for a contract to build the new fleet and to build and run a new depot at the existing site in Gosforth.[11] To stable some of the fleet while the new Gosforth Depot was being built, Nexus also ordered that a temporary second depot would be built on a former landfill site in Howdon,[12] funded as part of the £362 million fleet replacement.[13] This second depot was also originally intended to be the access point at which the new fleet would be delivered[12] in sections on low-loaders over a two-year period,[1] but the new fleet ended up being delivered in whole via rail to Pelaw Junction instead.[OR]
A planning application for the new depot was submitted to North Tyneside Council on 17 July 2018 and granted with conditions on 27 November 2018.[14][12] On 11 July 2019, Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd began building Howdon Depot on behalf of Nexus.[15] Emeg Group Ltd were contracted as the mechanical and engineering services provider, which included providing points heating, lighting, telecoms, fire protection, gas supply, water supply, ventilation, drainage, heating, cooling, a building management system, and their "safeNet Depot Protection System".[16] Lithos Consulting Ltd were also asked to liaise with the planning committee and the Environment Agency, and develop a Materials Management Plan.[17]
By 11 October 2019, they had stripped off all the top soil and began levelling it off.[18] By 2 January 2020, the first new tracks were in place.[19] By 24 February 2020, a total of twelve new lines, 1.5 km of new track, 13 new track junctions, and 1,000 new sleepers had been installed.[20] By 21 July 2020, overhead lines and the shed were in place.[13]
On 16 November 2020, the first test trains, metrocars 4059+4072, entered the maintenance shed at Howdon Depot.[21] By 17 December 2020, the depot officially became operational.[22]
It was anticipated that the satellite depot would be used for up to 10 years, following which it would be decommissioned and returned to undeveloped scrub land.[23]
Sources
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Mott Macdonald (July 2018). "Howdon Satellite Depot Planning, Design and Access Statement". 370377NEX1548B036BI02-01 Rev B.
- ↑ Mott Macdonald (11 July 2018). "Nexus Howdon Planning Application (TO36) Planning GA Sheet 1 of 3" (Drawing). 370377-MMD-00-XX-DR-U-0001 Rev P02.
- ↑ Mott Macdonald (28 June 2018). "Nexus Howdon Satellite Depot (TO35) Floor Plans" (Drawing). Drawing 370377-MMD-00-00-DR-AR-0010.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Nexus creates a butterfly conservation project on Metro" (accessed 28 April 2026). Nexus. 28 July 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 E3 Ecology Ltd (3 July 2018). "ECOLOGICAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: LAND WEST OF PERCY MAIN". Client Ref 370377NEX1548B036BI02-05, Project number 4981.
- ↑ E3 Ecology (29 September 2018). "BUTTERFLY MITIGATION STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT PLAN: LAND WEST OF PERCY LANE, NORTH SHIELDS". Project number 4981.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "CIEEM Awards 2021" (archived). www.cieem.net. Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. 22 October 2021. p. 21.
- ↑ "Howdon Satellite Depot Dingy Skipper Butterfly Habitat Mitigation Plan". Metro Futures.
- ↑ "Planning – Application Summary: 18/00967/FUL" (archived). North Tyneside Council.
- ↑ "Bold ambitions for Metro and local rail services" (archived). Nexus. 19 July 2016.
- ↑ "Bidders invited to design and build a new Metro fleet" (accessed 20 April 2026). Nexus. 8 June 2018.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Nexus wins approval to build a temporary Metro depot in North Tyneside" (archived). Nexus. 27 November 2018.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Metro’s new train depot at Howdon nears completion" (archived). Nexus. 21 July 2020.
- ↑ "Planning – Application Dates: 18/00967/FUL" (archived). North Tyneside Council.
- ↑ "Work starts on a temporary Metro depot in North Tyneside" (archived). Nexus. 11 July 2019.
- ↑ "Howdon Satellite Depot" (archived). Emeg.
- ↑ "Howdon Metro Depot" (archived). Lithos Consulting.
- ↑ "Watch: Update on Metro's temporary depot project in North Tyneside" (archived). Nexus. 11 October 2019.
- ↑ "Temporary Metro depot takes shape in North Tyneside" (archived). Nexus. 2 January 2020.
- ↑ "New tracks for temporary Metro depot in North Tyneside" (accessed 28 April 2026). Nexus. 24 February 2020.
- ↑ Nexus (16 November 2020) "Howdon Depot welcomes first test train" (accessed 28 April 2026). YouTube.
- ↑ "Temporary Metro Depot becomes operational in North Tyneside" (archived). Nexus. 17 December 2020.
- ↑ Andison, Rebecca (27 November 2018). "RECOMMENDATION REPORT: 18/00967/FUL". North Tyneside Council.
