The recent period of hot weather has been the cause of damage to the overhead line on the Tyne and Wear Metro which will necessitate the closure of part of the Tyne and Wear Metro from Tuesday 30th August. The emergency closure will be between South Gosforth and Shiremoor and will last for four days.
Stuart Clarke, Metro Infrastructure Director, explains more: “We have to replace a significant stretch of overhead line that was damaged by the recent severely high temperatures. The works are vital and need to happen as soon as possible. This means we the line between South Gosforth and Shiremoor will have to close for four full days next week, August 30 to September 2. I would like to apologise in advance for anyone who is disrupted by this emergency closure on the Metro network through North Tyneside. This is the type of engineering task which can only be carried out safely when trains are not running.
“When the line is closed customers will be able to use their Metro tickets and passes on all local bus services that operate in the affected area. We advise anyone travelling in the affected area to allow plenty of time to complete their journeys. Planned closures on the Metro system are something that we always try to carry out at weekends. In this instance, with the resources we need to for these works, we have had to diary in the works during the week just after the August bank holiday weekend.”
No trains will run from South Gosforth to Shiremoor between 30th August and 2nd September to allow the repairs to take place. 1.3km of overhead wire will be replaced during this closure.
Limited replacement buses will run on the affected section and Metro tickets are also valid on local bus services.
During this period Metro services will continue to run:
- South Shields to Regent Centre
- South Hylton to Airport
- Shiremoor to St James