There was intriguing news announced last month, suggesting that the Tyne and Wear Metro might be getting more than just the extension from Sunderland to Washington already agreed.
The Metro to Washington
It was reported in June that there would be the first extension to the Tyne and Wear Metro system for 30 years with a new line being built as part of a £1.85bn government investment.
The North East Combined Authority (NECA) was reported as saying that this fund would be combined with money expected to come from the private sector to help meet the cost of the route to Washington, Sunderland.
It is hoped the new line will start running in 2033, estimated to cost about £900mn, just over 30 years since the line through Sunderland opened in 2002.
Nexus, which operates the Metro system, said it was “a historic moment”.
“This project is going to be transformative for the people of Washington and our customers, opening a new Metro route corridor along the northern part of the former Leamside Line to one of our region’s largest towns,” said Nexus managing director Cathy Massarella.
More from Nexus
Soon after Nexus made their own announcement that extending the Metro to Washington would be a 13km extension to the Tyne and Wear Metro system making up a key part of North East Mayor Kim McGuinness’s vision to create an integrated network spanning the region and transform local transport.
It was further reported that, “using former railway alignments, including part of the Leamside Line, Metro to Washington will link existing stations at Pelaw and South Hylton via Washington. The extension includes new stations at Follingsby, Washington North and Washington South”.
Intriguingly it was also said that “while the project is limited to an extension of Metro, it is viewed by the Mayor as a key step towards the full re-opening of the Leamside Line in the future”.
Possible future extensions to the Metro and railways
Following this it was reported on 22 October that further expansions to the Tyne and Wear Metro network were being considered by the North East Combined Authority, on top of the long-promised extension to Washington.
It was noted that, “while details of exactly what improvements are planned and when remain unconfirmed, until the publication of the forthcoming Rail Strategy document, there have been plenty of suggestions in the past of where new Metro or train stations could be opened. The North East’s previous rail strategy, adopted in 2022 before Kim McGuinness’s election as mayor, included various other ambitions.
“Chief amongst those has been the restoration of the entire Leamside Line, the northern section of which would be used for the Washington Metro Loop. The mothballed route runs all the way from Pelaw in Gateshead to Tursdale in County Durham, meaning its full reopening could result in rail stations serving communities like Shincliffe, Belmont, West Rainton, Fencehouses, and Penshaw.”
It also hoped that complaints of a lack of public transport options in the West End of Newcastle, where a street tram network was once proposed, could also be tackled. Indeed, it was noted that, McGuinness’s own Local Transport Plan (LTP), launched last year, mentions an ambition for new westbound public transport heading out of either Central Station or St James’!.
It is also being proposed that there should be new railway stations serving the Northumberland village of Belford, the north west of North Tyneside and central Gateshead and the Quays. There could also be a new hourly rail service between Newcastle and Berwick on the East Coast Main Line and extensions to the recently reopened Northumberland Line.
Will it all happen?
On the face of it this all looks like very good news, the kind of news the North East Public Transport Users’ Group has been wanting to hear for a long time.
However, similar proposals have been put forward on numerous occasions in the past, without any material progress being made. Given that it has been calculated that the north of England as a whole has lost out on as much as £140 billion in a decade of underinvestment it is surely time to start investing properly in our public transport systems here in the North East.
We shall see what happens and what is said in the Chancellor’s budget speech, later this month.
It was back in 1981, that then Environment Secretary, Michael Heseltine, first stopped the Metro from being extended, only a year after it had been opened . Yet better public transport could add billions to pour economy in the North East at a time when we are still the poorest region in England, while also having a positive impact on both people and the environment.
Let us hope that these proposed improvements to public transport in our region do come to pass.
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