Yellow Line
The Yellow Line (YEL) is the 50.5 km long[1] route from St James to South Shields via Whitley Bay. It is one of the few rapid transit routes in the world to use a "pretzel configuration", in which it passes the same station (Monument) twice for each destination and from different platforms.
As of 4 December 2022, thanks to the completion of the Metro Flow project, it is 100% dual-track.[2] The track towards South Shields and connecting platforms numbered 1 (as well as Monument platform 3) is the "in-line", and the track towards St James and connecting platforms numbered 2 (as well as Monument platform 4) is the "out-line".
Ownership
[edit | edit source]The entire Yellow Line, including its stations, is owned and operated by Metro except for Tynemouth station which is owned by Station Developments Ltd.[3]
Predecessors
[edit | edit source]This section is intentionally simplified to only what directly led to the formation of the Yellow Line. Where no primary source is provided, the linked Wikipedia articles are the source. For more information about these predecessors, see the linked Wikipedia articles.
Most of the Yellow Line is based on an older suburban railway known as the "Tyneside Electrics", which itself was based on the steam "Newcastle and North Shields Railway", part of the "Blyth and Tyne Railway", and the South Tyneside line of "Brandling Junction Railway". The N&NSR opened in 1839, running between the temporary terminus Carliol Square (between Manors and what is now Newcastle Central) and North Shields.[4] In 1864, the B&TR, which extended the N&NSR from North Shields to north of Monkseaton, was extended from Monkseaton to New Bridge Street (between Jesmond and Manors) via Benton,[5] forming most of what became the North Tyneside Loop. Tyneside Electrics electrified the North Tyneside Loop using third rail and opened their network in 1904. In 1935, Brandling Junction Railway proposed a line connecting Gateshead to South Shields. That line was electrified by Tyneside Electrics and added to their network in 1938. In the 1960s, British Rail de-electrified the network and converted it to diesel operation.
Sources
[edit | edit source]- ↑ OpenStreetMap contributors and calculations from BRouter
- ↑ "Metro Flow" (accessed 18 April 2026), Nexus
- ↑ Nexus (13 April 2011). "Tynemouth preserved" (archived)
- ↑ Grace's Guide (29 June 2022). "Newcastle and North Shields Railway" (archived)
- ↑ Young, Alan. "NEWCASTLE NEW BRIDGE STREET" (archived). Disused Stations.
