As part of the major investment in the Tyne and Wear Metro which will see a complete fleet of new trains introduced in the coming years and the original depot at Gosforth being redeveloped, a new temporary second depot as been constructed at Howdon in North Tyneside to allow some train sets to be stabled each night. The depot was officially opened in December 2020 and will provide space to clean and prepare up to a quarter of the fleet over the next four years.
The depot has been built on a former landfill site alongside the Tyne and Wear Metro line and consists of 11 new lines totally 1.5km including 1,000 new sleepers and 13 new track junctions. As well as providing accommodation for some of the current fleet it is planned that the new fleet of Stadler built trains will be delivered to this depot for initial commissioning.
A line closure in place on the St James to Tynemouth section of the Metro on Sunday 4th July and a replacement bus service running instead afforded the opportunity for this view of Howdon Depot. Seven train sets are seen in this view with additional storage space also seen. (Photograph by Trevor Hall, 4th July 2021)