The project to dual 4.6km of track on the Tyne and Wear Metro in South Tyneside has reached its halfway point with the works remaining on schedule. 3km of new line has now been laid with a further 1.6km to follow over the coming weeks – the project is due to be completed by 4th December.
The Metro Flow Project will see a 4.6km section of track between Pelaw and Bede doubled to allow for more services to run and increase resilience at times of service disruption. There are three sections of track due to be dualled: Pelaw-Hebburn (800 metres), Hebburn-Jarrow (1.4km) and Jarrow-Bede (600 metres). It includes the upgrading of a freight line which has run alongside the Metro here since it opened.
So far, 3 km of track has been installed and this has also included the complete replacement of five track junctions. There have been over 4,000 new sleepers which have been put down and 16,000 tonnes of ballast. A thousand rail workers have been employed on the vast worksite which stretches from Gateshead to South Tyneside.
The £104 million scheme – including £95 million worth of funding secured from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund – is taking place during a 12 week closure of the Metro between Pelaw and South Shields. The line is due to reopen on 4th December.
Cathy Massarella, Major Project Director at Nexus, said: “The Metro Flow project has reached the halfway point and the works are making great progress. Three kilometres of new Metro tracks have been successfully installed already and we remain on course to get the line back open to customers on December 4. The works have been intensive. It is the biggest line closure we have ever undertaken. We have seen sections of old track excavated to make room for the new lines. In three key areas we are dualling the track by upgrading the adjacent freight line, which will become part of the Metro’s infrastructure.
“We are really grateful to our customers and our lineside neighbours for their patience while we carry out this project, which involves us working right around the clock. Metro Flow will allow us to improve reliability on the Metro system, allow for a greater frequency of services in the future when we have our new trains, and offer scope to examine future opportunities to expand the network to other areas that are currently not served by Metro.”
Cllr Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council, added: “We are delighted to be on schedule. Having a safe, reliable and sustainable public transport network is crucial for people to get around, whether they are travelling to work, education or for recreation. The planned line closure marks a significant step in the Metro Flow project, an investment which will bring long term benefits to the Borough and the wider region. Although it does mean there is continued disruption for those who use the Metro to travel to and from South Tyneside, people are assured that once the Metro Flow project is complete, it will make a huge difference with journey times and frequency vastly improved. The track dualling will also help to minimise disruption if problems occur while creating scope for expansion of the Metro network in the future.”