The North East Joint Transport Committee have approved the first North East Rail and Metro Strategy, which outlines plans to upgrade the East Coast Mainline, reopen the Leamside Line and, most pertinent to this website, extended the Tyne and Wear Metro. The strategy looks as how things could be by 2035 but as is often the case with documents such as this is a little light on actual detail.
The strategy recognises the vital role that both rail and the Metro play in lowering carbon emissions, freeing up the roads and boosting the local economy. It covers not only Tyne and Wear but also Durham and Northumberland and outlines the important part rail and Metro play in the day-to-day lives of local people and communities.
The main headlines of the strategy include:
- Obtaining Government commitment to increasing capacity on the East Coast Main Line for both passengers and freight
- Extending the Tyne and Wear Metro, upgrading existing networks and adding new stations and routes – including the Leamside Line and Norththumberland Line
- Working with Great British Railways to form a new partnership which represents the North East, ensuring local needs are taken into account
- Introducing new trains – including a more efficient electric fleet on Metro and electric/battery hydrogen local rail trains
- Improvements to several railway stations including Newcastle and Sunderland and new stations such as Gateshead East
Obviously from a Metro point of view the eye-catching sentence there is extending the network. However, there isn’t a huge amount of details about when and where that would happen in the actual document. It says: “Over the coming years, as a region we want to expand the reach of local rail and Metro into more communities, benefiting more people’s lives and unlocking access to countless opportunities. Studies have been commissioned which are assessing the feasibility and demand of new corridors, as set out in the Overcoming inequality and growing our economy.”
There is also a map within the document (“Connectivity – Where we want to be (2035)”) which seems to suggest there could be new routes as follows:
- Sunderland to Doxford
- South Hylton to Ferryhill
- South Hylton to Washington (and on to the current Metro route at Heworth)
- Newcastle to Chester-le-Street
Although its not totally clear whether these would be Tyne and Wear Metro routes as we know them on more metro style railway operations.
Cllr Martin Gannon, Chair of the North East Joint Transport Committee, said: “Our transport links are central to the long-term growth and prosperity of the region, and by having the North East Rail and Metro Strategy in place, we are in the best place to deliver on these bold ambitions. Our sights are firmly set on reopening the Leamside Line and extending the Metro and we are already taking steps to make these ambitions a reality. We also want to drive investment in the East Coast Main Line in the North East and we’ll continue to make our region’s case for funding from central Government to boost capacity. These developments will allow us to achieve our health and economic goals and help local people to access better opportunities – whether that’s for employment, leisure or education. We want to connect new communities to our rail network, driving more green journeys, tackling air pollution head-on while reducing the reliance on the private car and the associated congestion across our road network.”
- The strategy can be downloaded on the Transport Northeast website at https://www.transportnortheast.gov.uk//wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NorthEastRailandMetroStrategy.pdf