Tyne and Wear Metro

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Tyne and Wear Metro logo as of October 2019

The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving many areas of Tyne and Wear in the North East of England. It is owned and operated by Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus).

Rolling stock

The Tyne and Wear Metro currently uses two classes of rolling stock for passenger service. The system started with 90 metrocars, manufactured by Metro-Cammell. However, many of these have now been scrapped while the fleet is replaced by 46 of the new Class 555s, manufactured by Stadler. The new trains first entered passenger service in December 2024 and are expected to all be in service by the end of 2026.

Alongside the passenger stock, Metro also owns and operates three battery locomotives (BL1, BL2 and BL3), a ballast tamper (MA‑60), five hopper wagons, eight bogie flat wagons, and two low height spoil wagons.

• 
  Metrocar 4087
• 
  Unit 555004
• 
  Battery loco BL1 dragging a metrocar

Network

The Metro network is made up of roughly 172km of rail, 2 lines (yellow line and green line), 60 stations, 9 sets of sidings, 42 crossovers, Gosforth Depot, Howdon Satellite Depot, Hylton Street Permanent Way Depot, Nexus Learning Centre, the avoid line, and the Manors curve.

The green Line runs between Airport and South Hylton and is 37.5 km long. The yellow Line runs between St James and South Shields and is 50.5 km long. The track between and including South Gosforth and Pelaw is shared between both lines. The yellow line north of the Tyne is known as the "North Tyneside loop". The yellow line is also one of the few rapid transit systems in the world to use a "pretzel configuration", in which it passes the same station (Monument) twice for each destination and from different platforms.

Most of the network is owned by Metro. However, the green line between Pelaw Junction and South Hylton (inclusive) is owned and operated by Network Rail, with the line between and including Fellgate and Sunderland shared with heavy rail. As a result, all Metro trains in this section of the network, including empty coaching stock that doesn't usually show on the Pop app, can be tracked through services like Realtime Trains and Signal Maps. Metro owns all of its stations, including those on Network Rail infrastructure, except for Sunderland which is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains, and except for Tynemouth which is owned by Station Developments Ltd.

Previously, there was red and blue lines, which ran in peak times only. The red line ran between Benton and Pelaw, while the blue line ran between North Shields and St. James. Peak services still run today, except not on their own dedicated line.

List of current Tyne and Wear Metro stations

Station	Code	Opened (for Metro)	Platforms
Airport	APT, APN	17 November 1991	1, 2
Bank Foot	BFT	10 May 1981	1, 2
Bede	BDE	24 March 1984	1, 2
Benton	BTN, BNO	11 August 1980	1, 2
Brockley Whins	BYW, BNR	31 March 2002	1, 2
Byker	BYK	14 November 1982	1, 2
Callerton Parkway	CAL	17 November 1991	1, 2
Central Station	CEN, NCZ	15 November 1981	1, 2
Chichester	CHI	24 March 1984	1, 2
Chillingham Road	CRD	14 November 1982	1, 2
Cullercoats	CUL	11 August 1980	1, 2
East Boldon	EBO, EBL	31 March 2002	1, 2
Fawdon	FAW	10 May 1981	1, 2
Fellgate	FGT, FEG	31 March 2002	1, 2
Felling	FEL	15 November 1981	1, 2
Four Lane Ends	FLE	11 August 1980	1, 2
Gateshead	GHD	15 November 1981	1, 2
Gateshead Stadium	GST	15 November 1981	1, 2
Hadrian Road	HDR	14 November 1982	1, 2
Haymarket	HAY	11 August 1980	1, 2
Hebburn	HEB	24 March 1984	1, 2
Heworth	HTH, HEZ	15 November 1981	1, 2
Howdon	HOW	14 November 1982	1, 2
Ilford Road	ILF	11 August 1980	1, 2
Jarrow	JAR, JAW	24 March 1984	1, 2
Jesmond	JES, JSM	11 August 1980	1, 2
Kingston Park	KSP	15 September 1985	1, 2
Longbenton	LBN	11 August 1980	1, 2
Manors	MAN, MRM	14 November 1982	1, 2
Meadow Well	MWL, MDW	14 November 1982	1, 2
Millfield	MLF, MIF	31 March 2002	1, 2
Monkseaton	MSN, MSP	11 August 1980	1, 2
Monument	MMT	15 November 1981	1, 2, 3, 4
North Shields	NSH	14 November 1982	1, 2
Northumberland Park	NPK	11 December 2005	1, 2
Pallion	PAL, PAI	31 March 2002	1, 2
Palmersville	PMV	19 March 1986	1, 2
Park Lane	PLI, CIC	28 April 2002	1, 2
Pelaw	PLW, PAW	16 September 1985	1, 2
Percy Main	PCM	14 November 1982	1, 2
Regent Centre	RGC, REG	10 May 1981	1, 2
Seaburn	SBN, SEB	31 March 2002	1, 2
Shiremoor	SMR, SHM	11 August 1980	1, 2
Simonside	SMD, SMN	17 March 2008	1, 2
South Gosforth	SGF, SGH	11 August 1980	1, 2
South Hylton	SHL, SHZ	31 March 2002	2
South Shields	SSS, SHV	23 March 1984	2
St James	SJM, SJN	14 November 1982	1, 2
St Peter's	MSP, STZ	16 April 2001	1, 2
Stadium of Light	SFC, STI	31 March 2002	1, 2
Sunderland	SUN	31 March 2002	1, 2, 3, 4
Tyne Dock	TDK	24 March 1984	1, 2
Tynemouth	TYN, TYP	11 August 1980	1, 2
University	UNI, UNV	31 March 2002	1, 2
Walkergate	WKG	14 November 1982	1, 2
Wallsend	WSD, WLL	14 November 1982	1, 2
Wansbeck Road	WBR	10 May 1981	1, 2
West Jesmond	WJS	11 August 1980	1, 2
West Monkseaton	WMN	11 August 1980	1, 2
Whitley Bay	WTL, WHB	11 August 1980	1, 2

List of non-passenger stops on the Metro network

Name	Code	Adjacent stops	Number of storage spaces
Gosforth Depot avoiding line		RGC, LBN
East Boldon up loop		BYW, EBO	1
Gosforth Depot	DEP	GEJ, GMJ, GWJ
Gosforth East Junction	GEJ	RGC, DEP	0
Gosforth Middle Junction	GMJ	SGF, DEP	0
Gosforth West Junction	GWJ	LBN, DEP	0
Howdon Depot Junction	HDJ	HOW, HSD	0
Howdon Satellite Depot	HSD	HDJ	11
Hylton Street Permanent Way Depot	HYL	MWL	1
Jesmond Junction, Manors ECS Curve	JJC	JES, MAN	1
Monkseaton Sidings	MKS	MSN, WTL	2
Nexus Learning Centre		SSS	2
Pelaw Junction	PJC	PLW, FGT	2
Pelaw Sidings	PWS	PLW, HEB, FGT	8
Preston Refuge Siding	PRS	NSH	1
Regent Centre Siding	RGS	RGC	1
River Drive Siding	RDS	SSS	1
Stoddart Street Sidings	STD	MAN	5
Stoneyhurst Road Siding	SRS	SGF	1

History

Predecessors

This section is intentionally simplified to only what directly lead to the formation of the Tyne and Wear Metro. Where no primary source is provided, the linked Wikipedia articles are the source. For more information about these predecessors, see the linked Wikipedia articles.

Diagram of the Tyneside Electrics network at its full extent

Most of Metro's 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. 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, 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.

Metro's green line between South Gosforth and Airport is based on the Ponteland Railway between South Gosforth and Kenton Bank (which became Bank Foot). The Ponteland Railway opened in 1905 and continued from Kenton Bank to Ponteland, but this continuation of the line no longer exists. The Ponteland Railway closed to passengers in 1929.

Metro's green line between Pelaw and Sunderland is based on part of the Durham Coast Line, which still runs to this day. This particular stretch of track was opened in 1939 as another section of Brandling Junction Railway.

The rest of the green line, between Sunderland and South Hylton, is based on part of the Durham Junction Railway.

The proposed "Metro to Washington" extension is based on part of the Leamside line, which itself is another part of the Durham Junction Railway. This particular stretch of the line was opened by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway in 1849 and closed in the early 1990s.

Planning

In 1969, local authority staff and consultants were undertaking a study into "a strategic framework for land use and transportation planning in the [Tyneside] area". In 1971, their findings were published under the title "Transport Plan for the 1980s", and the main recommendation was investment in rail rapid transit. The Government accepted this result and, in December 1972, agreed a 75% infrastructure grant towards the capital costs of the system. On 25 July 1973, Elizabeth II approved the Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Act 1973 which empowered the Tyneside PTE to construct works and acquire lands for the system.

The requirements established through this planning process included:

• Tunnels through the centre of Newcastle and Gateshead, separating it from the main line
• A new railway bridge crossing the Tyne to connect Newcastle and Gateshead
• Re-electrification of the network using overhead lines
• Step-free access to all stations on the network

Construction

The first civil engineering contracts were let in 1974, for the construction of the tunnels under the city centres. The tunnels under Newcastle were mainly bored through boulder clay while the tunnels under Gateshead were mainly bored through interweaved sandstones and old coal mines.

By 1975, the two prototype metrocars (4001 and 4002) had been built by Metro-Cammell, as had a purpose-built test centre on Middle Engine Lane in North Shields. The prototypes were delivered to the test centre in May 1975, where they began the testing process.

Opening

The initial Metro network was opened to the public in stages between 11 August 1980 and 24 March 1984. The official opening train ran on 7 August 1980 from Haymarket to Tynemouth, and the first revenue service took place 4 days later between the same two stations.

The network itself officially opened on the morning of 6 November 1981 with a visit from the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, who both travelled on metrocar 4020. The Royal opening was part of a three-week transport festival on Tyneside designed to encourage people to try the Metro. On the same day, Queen Elizabeth II also opened the Queen Elizabeth II bridge, giving it its name and allowing passengers to travel onwards from Haymarket to Heworth.