Metro Flow, the £104 million project to increase capacity on the Tyne and Wear Metro, has been recognised at the National Rail Awards. It was named Major Project of the Year at the prestigious ceremony whilst the Metro Customer Service and Operations Teams were recognised in their work at the 2022 Great North Run.
Cllr Martin Gannon, Chair of the North East Joint Transport Committee and leader of Gateshead Council, said: “To see Metro Flow named the best new rail engineering project in Britain is no less than it deserves. Our £104m project is the key to a better, more frequent and more reliable Metro in the years ahead. It is also fantastic to see Metro’s Customer Service and Operations teams recognised for the amazing job they do every year at the Great North Run, so soon after they overcame the floods at this year’s event to get everybody safely home.”
Metro Flow has seen a 4.6km stretch of track between Pelaw and Bede fully dualled to allow both for more services to run and for there to be an increased resilience when there is service disruption – its value was seen at this year’s Great North Run when services resumed after an hour following severe flooding.
Cathy Massarella, Interim Nexus Managing Director, said: “Metro Flow and the new Metro Fleet between them represent an investment of almost £500m to build a better Metro for our customers. I know people want a more frequent and reliable service and projects like Metro Flow represent just one part of the hard work our whole team is doing to get there.”