Tyne and Wear Metro: The facts

The Tyne and Wear Metro is a light rail network serving the cities of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Sunderland as well as both north and south Tyneside. It is operated by a subsidiary of the German railway Deutsche Bahn known as DB Regio on behalf of Nexus. To learn of some of the facts about this rapid transit system, read the guide below.

Facts about the Metro

First in the UK The Tyne and Wear Metro was the first modern light rail system to operate within the United Kingdom. It opened its first section from Tynemouth to Haymarket in August 1980. Extensions The service has twice been extended. It has 48 miles or 78 kilometres of lines and provides over
40 million passenger journeys per year. Sharing the track It uses a combination of former British Rail suburban lines as well as existing Network Rail tracks which it shares with main line trains, the only area in the UK to do so. Longest light rail As well as being the first, it is also the longest light rail system in the country. It shares the tracks and uses a system of tunnels beneath the city centres. New and old
The 60 stations on the network are a combination of former British Rail stations dating back to the Victorian era. These are complemented by newer style stations constructed for the Metro which date from the 1980s up to 2002. They are also the newest station on Park Lane.

Some ground breaking facts

Peak time trains
During the peak hours of operations, trains in the central Newcastle and Gateshead section run every three minutes. Ninety trains are used across the entire network. They normally comprise of two units coupled together. Nexus This is the trading name of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive. The company also owns and operates local bus services as well as the Shields Ferry. Two lines The two lines in operation are the Green Line that runs from Newcastle Airport to South Hylton and the Yellow Line that begins at St. James and terminates at South Shields. Speed of trains The normal operating speed for the trains is 50 mph (80 kmph).
Open access network There are no fixed ticket controls and checks are made by patrols of inspectors riding the trains. An upgrade to ticket machines will see the introduction of ticket gates during 2011. Phone use and smoking The Metro was the first rail network in the UK to install systems to allow mobile (cell) phone use within its tunnels. Smoking was forbidden as from the opening day of the network. It was the first comprehensive smoking ban in the country.