The biggest major line closure ever seen on the Tyne and Wear Metro gets underway next week to allow for a £104m track dualling project to be carried out in South Tyneside.
The Metro Flow project will see three sections of single track – pinch points on the Metro network – dualled during the closure. When completed it will improve reliability across the whole of Metro and allow Nexus to increase the frequency of trains in the future.
Metro Flow requires a 12-week major line closure between Pelaw and South Shields, 12 September to 3 December. During that time customers will be provided with frequent replacement bus services. Metro services will resume as usual on Sunday 4 December.
Nexus, the public body which owns and manages Metro, said the planned the closure will be the longest and biggest in Metro’s 42-year history.
The closure will start the day after the Great North Run has taken place on Sunday 11 September.
Customers travelling between Pelaw and South Shields are being strongly advised to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys.
A frequent replacement bus service will be in operation. Service 900 will call at all affected stations on the route and the X900 will provide an express service from South Shields to Heworth.
A total of £95m has been secured from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund, allowing Metro operator Nexus to deliver the scheme, which will cost £104m in total.
Cllr Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council, said: “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 will be major disruption over the coming months 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.”
Major Projects Director at Nexus, Cathy Massarella, said: “This is the longest and biggest planned closure on Metro that we’ve ever undertaken in 42 years of operations.
“The £100m Metro Flow project involves a massive programme of track dualling, which can only be carried out during a three-month major line closure.
“It is never an easy decision to close such a large section of the network for such a long period of time, but this is the only way that we can effectively deliver the track dualling works.
“I would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding while these works are taking place.
“The closure will run from Monday 12 September until Sunday 4 December. Customers will need to plan ahead when the line closure is in place. Allow plenty of extra time for your journeys and there will be frequent replacement buses running, which includes an express service between Heworth and South Shields.
“The work will see three pinch points on the Metro network eliminated by the dualling of an existing freight line, which will become part of the of Metro’s own infrastructure.
“This also gives us the scope to examine future opportunities to expand the network to other areas that are currently not served by Metro.”
Metro Flow allows three sections of single track on the Metro network totalling three kilometres to be dualled between Pelaw and Bede Metro stations.
There are three single-track sections on the Metro network, where trains must use the same line in both directions, leading to hold-ups if there are even minor delays and making it harder to recover when incidents occur.
The sections of line are located between Pelaw and Hebburn (800 metres), Hebburn and Jarrow (1.4km) and Jarrow and Bede (600 metres).
The Metro Flow project will be carried out by Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd.
Photo and video credit: Tyne and Wear Metro
