Tyne & Wear Metro extension study commissioned

 

 

Consultants Arup have been awarded a design contract by Nexus to firm-up plans for the 13km extension of the Tyne & Wear Metro to Washington, estimated to cost £900M to build and equip. It is hoped the result of this work will persuade the government to include the project in its funding plans. The design contract will use part of the £8M already allocated by North-East mayor Kim McGuiness to kick-start the project. The Washington Loop extension would use the disused southern section of the Leamside railway line to link the current terminus at South Hylton with Pelaw on the line to South Shields/Sunderland. Three new stations could be built. The mayor’s regional transport plan sets a target for completion in 2032. 

 

Ms McGuiness said, ‘I said that I would bring the Metro to Washington and I am delivering on that promise. I am delighted that we have appointed Arup to help us achieve another milestone with the specialist design work for the project, that will be the biggest expansion of the Metro for more than 20 years’. 

 

Tyne & Wear Metro is a 48.2-mile (77.5km) light rail system serving Newcastle, Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland that was conceived and promoted by the former Tyne & Wear PTE and opened in 1980, with subsequent extensions in 1991 and 2002. The original fleet of Metro-Cammell cars based on the German Stadtbahn-B design are about to be replaced by 46 five-section LRVs from Swiss manufacturer Stadler, with the first entering service in December 2024.