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Tyne and Wear Metro

Britain's first light rapid transit system: two lines, the Green and the Yellow, with 60 stations and 48.5 miles of route through Newcastle, Gateshead, North and South Tyneside and Sunderland. Much of it runs on old suburban railways, joined up by new tunnels under the centres of Newcastle and Gateshead and a bridge over the Tyne. It opened in 1980, reached Newcastle Airport in 1991 and Sunderland in 2002, sharing Network Rail's track from Pelaw. Its 46 Stadler trains have replaced the original Metrocars, which ran from 1980 to 2026.

1980Opened
48.5 miles (78 km)Route, both lines
60Stations
31.5 millionJourneys a year, DfT (2025–26)

Facts

Opened
11 August 1980
Lines
Green line, Airport to South Hylton; Yellow line, St James to South Shields, round the coast
Type
light rapid transit, two lines
Depots
Gosforth
Operating company
Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, which owns and runs it, as an executive body of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority; Stadler, which built the trains, has the team that maintains them at Gosforth depot
Shares track
Network Rail's line from Pelaw to Sunderland, about 9 miles (14 km) to just beyond Sunderland station, with main-line passenger and freight trains: the first track in Britain shared by light and heavy rail. The line on to South Hylton is the Metro's own.

unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓

Class 555 · Stadler (Stadler Rail Group, Bussnang, and Stadler Rheintal, St. Margrethen, Switzerland) · shown in Nexus
5 cars, 197 ft (59.9 m)

Route 60 stations

Yellow line: St James – South Shields, round the coast 41
Yellow line: St James – South Shields, round the coast: schematic, not to scale St JamesSt James Monument — change for Green lineMonument ManorsManors BykerByker Chillingham RoadChillingham Road WalkergateWalkergate WallsendWallsend Hadrian RoadHadrian Road HowdonHowdon Percy MainPercy Main Meadow WellMeadow Well North ShieldsNorth Shields TynemouthTynemouth CullercoatsCullercoats Whitley BayWhitley Bay MonkseatonMonkseaton West MonkseatonWest Monkseaton ShiremoorShiremoor Northumberland Park — change for National RailNorthumberland Park PalmersvillePalmersville BentonBenton Four Lane EndsFour Lane Ends LongbentonLongbenton South Gosforth — change for Green lineSouth Gosforth Ilford Road — change for Green lineIlford Road West Jesmond — change for Green lineWest Jesmond Jesmond — change for Green lineJesmond Haymarket — change for Green lineHaymarket Monument — change for Green lineMonument Central Station — change for Green line, National RailCentral Station Gateshead — change for Green lineGateshead Gateshead Stadium — change for Green lineGateshead Stadium Felling — change for Green lineFelling Heworth — change for Green line, National RailHeworth Pelaw — change for Green linePelaw HebburnHebburn JarrowJarrow BedeBede SimonsideSimonside Tyne DockTyne Dock ChichesterChichester South ShieldsSouth Shields
Green line: Airport – South Hylton 31
Green line: Airport – South Hylton: schematic, not to scale AirportAirport Callerton ParkwayCallerton Parkway Bank FootBank Foot Kingston ParkKingston Park FawdonFawdon Wansbeck RoadWansbeck Road Regent CentreRegent Centre South Gosforth — change for Yellow lineSouth Gosforth Ilford Road — change for Yellow lineIlford Road West Jesmond — change for Yellow lineWest Jesmond Jesmond — change for Yellow lineJesmond Haymarket — change for Yellow lineHaymarket Monument — change for Yellow lineMonument Central Station — change for Yellow line, National RailCentral Station Gateshead — change for Yellow lineGateshead Gateshead Stadium — change for Yellow lineGateshead Stadium Felling — change for Yellow lineFelling Heworth — change for Yellow line, National RailHeworth Pelaw — change for Yellow linePelaw FellgateFellgate Brockley WhinsBrockley Whins East BoldonEast Boldon SeaburnSeaburn Stadium of LightStadium of Light St Peter'sSt Peter's Sunderland — change for National RailSunderland Park LanePark Lane UniversityUniversity MillfieldMillfield PallionPallion South HyltonSouth Hylton

Schematic, not to scale. Ringed stations are interchanges. Yellow line trains run from St James through Monument and round the coast, by Wallsend, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay, to South Gosforth, then back through Monument to Gateshead and South Shields, so they call at Monument twice and its strip shows it twice. The two lines share the 12 stations from South Gosforth to Pelaw, ringed as interchanges between them. Central Station, Heworth, Northumberland Park and Sunderland are interchanges with National Rail trains, and from Pelaw to Sunderland the Metro runs on Network Rail's track. Station order from Nexus's timetables and its network map (see Sources).

StationInterchanges
St James
MonumentGreen line
Manors
Byker
Chillingham Road
Walkergate
Wallsend
Hadrian Road
Howdon
Percy Main
Meadow Well
North Shields
Tynemouth
Cullercoats
Whitley Bay
Monkseaton
West Monkseaton
Shiremoor
Northumberland ParkNational Rail
Palmersville
Benton
Four Lane Ends
Longbenton
South GosforthGreen line
Ilford RoadGreen line
West JesmondGreen line
JesmondGreen line
HaymarketGreen line
Central StationGreen line, National Rail
GatesheadGreen line
Gateshead StadiumGreen line
FellingGreen line
HeworthGreen line, National Rail
PelawGreen line
Hebburn
Jarrow
Bede
Simonside
Tyne Dock
Chichester
South Shields
Airport
Callerton Parkway
Bank Foot
Kingston Park
Fawdon
Wansbeck Road
Regent Centre
Fellgate
Brockley Whins
East Boldon
Seaburn
Stadium of Light
St Peter's
SunderlandNational Rail
Park Lane
University
Millfield
Pallion
South Hylton

Stations from the operator’s published routes, entered by hand (see Sources).

Rolling stock

Earlier trains on this line

History 22

  1. The Newcastle and North Shields Railway opens, the world's first suburban passenger railway; its line between Chillingham Road and North Shields is now part of the Metro.
  2. The busiest of Tyneside's suburban lines, Newcastle to Tynemouth, becomes one of the first outside London to be electrified. Electric trains cross the Tyne to South Shields by 1937; in 1967 diesel trains replace them.
  3. The Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority and Executive are set up. Their study finds that the best way to improve public transport is to turn the suburban railways into a rapid transit system reaching into the city centre.
  4. The Government agrees a grant of 75% of the cost of the system's infrastructure.
  5. Building starts, with the first contracts for tunnels under the centres of Newcastle and Gateshead.
  6. The first two Metrocars, prototypes, begin trials on a test track built for them at Middle Engine Lane in North Tyneside.
  7. The Metro opens to passengers, from Haymarket to Tynemouth; the cheapest ticket is 8p.
  8. The Metro crosses the Tyne to Gateshead, as far as Heworth.
  9. The Queen officially opens the Metro, crossing the new Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge from Gateshead to Newcastle.
  10. The North Tyne loop is completed, round by the coast.
  11. The line to South Shields opens, finishing the original network: 34 miles (55 km) of track and 44 stations, worked by 90 Metrocars. In its first full year it carries more than 60 million journeys.
  12. The Metro reaches Newcastle International Airport, with new stations at Callerton Parkway and the airport; 10,000 people ride it to the airport on the opening day.
  13. The line to Sunderland and South Hylton opens, with 12 stations: eight new, and four main-line stations rebuilt (Brockley Whins, East Boldon, Seaburn and Sunderland). From Pelaw to just beyond Sunderland it runs on Network Rail's track with main-line passenger and freight trains, a first in Britain; then on new track along the old railway to South Hylton.
  14. The Queen officially opens the Sunderland line at Park Lane Interchange, in her Golden Jubilee year.
  15. Nexus appoints Stadler to build 46 new trains, in a £362 million programme that includes a new depot at Gosforth.
  16. A temporary depot at Howdon, in North Tyneside, opens, built to take in the new trains and to look after up to a quarter of the old fleet while Gosforth depot is rebuilt.
  17. The first new train, a Class 555, arrives from Stadler's factory in Switzerland, hauled all the way by rail.
  18. The new depot at Gosforth is completed.
  19. The first Class 555 enters service with passengers.
  20. The last of the 46 new trains arrives at Gosforth depot.
  21. A National Rail station opens at Northumberland Park on Northern's new Northumberland Line, as an interchange with the Metro, with trains to Newcastle and Ashington.
  22. The original Metrocars make their last guaranteed runs with passengers, on both lines, after 46 years and 1.7 billion journeys. Two are kept for their heritage, one goes for firefighters' training and the rest are recycled.

Sources 20

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Show the 20 sources from Nexus, Department for Transport, The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation and 2 more
unverified
  • The line colours: the Yellow line's #FFB63A and the Green line's #3FBA5A, sampled from Nexus's network map as rendered (the PDF gives them in print colours, 0/30/94/0 and 76/0/91/0 CMYK); Nexus publishes no screen colour. The system's colour is the Yellow line's
  • Howdon depot: built as a temporary depot for the change of fleet (Rail Engineer, December 2020); whether it is still used now that Gosforth is rebuilt is not confirmed, so only Gosforth is listed
  • Gosforth depot: Nexus's page on the new trains says it was completed in January 2024; its history timeline puts the new train's unveiling at the "newly opened Metro Depot" in 2023
  • Manors: Northern's Northumberland Line trains call at Manors station, near the Metro's; Nexus's map doesn't mark it as an interchange, so it isn't ringed

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