TYNE & WEAR METRO AT 40
AFTER 40 years of service and with a network now consisting of 48 route miles and 60 stations, the Tyne & Wear Metro is an integral part of everyday life in the region, seeing in excess of 36 million journeys made every year.
The beginning of public services on Monday, August 11, 1980 (initially between Tynemouth on the coast and Haymarket in central Newcastle via Benton) was the realisation of the first stage in a pioneering plan to transform public transport in the then Tyne & Wear County Council area.
The Metro was the UK’s first urban light rail system and formed part of the country’s first fully integrated metropolitan public transport network. In another British first, heavy rail suburban lines north and south of the Tyne were taken over by Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive (TWPTE, now known as Nexus) to form the core of the Metro network. As well as converting the former British Rail lines to Metro operation, extensive engineering work was undertaken to extend these routes into the very centres of Newcastle and Gateshead and better serve local populations.
‘Obsolete’
Connecting Metro and bus services would provide what was described as “the most efficient transport system in the country”, offering an alternative to the car on seriously congested roads.
“What we’re building isn’t just a tram system; it’s really a replacement for an obsolete urban infrastructure they put in at the turn of the century,” Desmond Fletcher, who was at the time TWPTE director general, commented to New Scientist magazine in December 1977.
“It was cutting edge technology,” explains former Metro operations manager Ian Rossiter, who joined as a driver just two months after it opened. “Everything on the Metro was brand
