TYNE & WEAR METRO AT 40 PART ONE
Graeme Pickering looks at the history and development of the North East system as it celebrates four decades of operation.
AFTER 40 years of service and with a network now consisting of 48 route miles and 60 stations, the Tyne & Wear Metro is an integral part of everyday life in the region, seeing in excess of 36 million journeys made every year.
The beginning of public services on
Monday, August 11, 1980 (initially between Tynemouth on the coast and Haymarket in central Newcastle via Benton) was the realisation of the first stage in a pioneering plan to transform public transport in the then Tyne & Wear County Council area.
The Metro was the UK’s first urban light rail system and formed part of the country’s first fully integrated metropolitan public transport network. In another British first, heavy rail suburban lines north and south of the Tyne were taken over by Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive (TWPTE, now known as Nexus) to form the core of
the Metro network. As well as converting the former British Rail lines to Metro operation, extensive engineering work was undertaken to extend these routes into the very centres of Newcastle and Gateshead and better serve local populations.
‘Obsolete’
Connecting Metro and bus services would provide what was described as “the most efficient transport system in the country”, offering an alternative to the car on seriously congested roads.
“What we’re building isn’t just a tram system; it’s really a replacement for an obsolete urban infrastructure they put in at the turn of the century,” Desmond Fletcher, who was at the time TWPTE director general, commented to New Scientist magazine in December 1977.
“It was cutting edge technology,” explains former Metro operations manager Ian Rossiter, who joined as a driver just two months after it opened. “Everything on the Metro was brand new. Everybody had been waiting for this new system that was going to take them right into the city centre.”
By the late-1960s, growing volumes of traffic in urban areas had prompted local councils to consider the options available for improving public transport. Converting the suburban railway lines to busways or closing them altogether and instead adding more buses to the roads were among the options considered.
However, studies concluded that using rail routes as the basis for a new rapid transit system was the best way forward. Further investigation provided evidence of its viability and convinced the Government to fund 75% of the infrastructure costs.
In 1973, the Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Act was passed by Parliament and construction work began the following year.
The path to opening was far from smooth, however. While the project was at an early stage, trade unions were involved in a dispute over who should drive the trains. There were boycotts involving construction work on British Rail premises and even BR itself had a difference of opinion with TWPTE over who should run the Metro. TWPTE had been responsible for the plans and contracts, and was adamant it would remain in control.
Crackdown
In May 1976, amid a national financial crisis which prompted a major crackdown on public spending, the Government began a reappraisal of the project. New works and contracts were deferred until Transport Secretary Bill Rodgers announced, just four days before Christmas, that the Metro was allowed to proceed.
The search for technical solutions began in the early-1970s and took the engineering team to Europe and the United States. The Metro was modern and innovative in a UK context, but utilised methods and systems that had already been tried and tested elsewhere.
TWPTE’s then director of engineering David Howard described it as incorporating “the best of everything”, adding: “It’s all proven technology. Nothing we’re doing hasn’t been done before.”
The aim was for the system to be as cost effective as possible while adhering to the necessary criteria for safety and performance.
The parts of the network that didn’t utilise existing railway infrastructure would be engineered to loading and clearances specifically designed for the Metro.
Nevertheless, as plans for the system evolved, they bore much more of a resemblance to a standard railway than a tramway. This was evident in both the complexity of the signalling and the choice of overhead electric power for the system, both of which reflected preferences defined by the Department of Transport. Considerations, including the size of the system, cost and requirement for it to be operated by lightweight vehicles determined it would be energised at 1,500v DC.
As well as being in charge of train movements and having radio contact with trains and staff around the system, the Metro control centre was equipped with a feed from station CCTV cameras and computer technology to assist with train identification and routing.
The new centre was built on the Down platform at South Gosforth station, and its scale and dark fascia was in stark contrast to the Blyth & Tyne Railway station master’s house and platform buildings, which were demolished to make way for it. However, the buildings of several stations on the North Tyneside Loop were retained, Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and Monkseaton being among the finest examples.
“We have no ambition to build monuments,” said David Howard, explaining the design of the Metro was dictated by “convenience and simplicity”. Nevertheless, it would be difficult not to admire the major engineering effort that went into building the Metro, in particular the two largest structures completed for the system.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge over the Tyne is 360m long and of a steel “through truss” design, which consists of three spans supported by concrete piers. In order to allow for shipping, the navigation authority stipulated a central span 164.5m, 25m above river level.
Tunnelling
To the east of Newcastle city centre is the 18-span concrete S-shaped Byker Viaduct, which is 815m long and carries trains over local roads and 30m above the Ouseburn Valley.
It was the first pre-stressed segmental bridge in the UK to use a combination of cantilever construction and match cast concrete segments with glued joints made of epoxy resin. More than 250 segments were individually produced on-site, with measurements taking place prior to each casting relative to its position in the structure and corresponding pieces.
Extensive tunnelling work was required to allow trains to get right into the centres of
Newcastle and Gateshead. On the north side of the Tyne, this was mainly through boulder clay, but the presence of sandstone and coal on the south side, which had been mined as far back as the 14th century, required the construction of arch-shaped rather than circular tunnels.
Utilities had to be diverted and careful attention paid to the impact of tunnel excavation on buildings above. Part of the portico of Newcastle Central station was temporarily dismantled in order to prevent damage and piling work was carried out to prevent Grey’s Monument (which stands above Monument station and the intersection of the Metro’s east-west and north-south routes) from being destabilised.
The system’s fleet of 90 trains (numbered 4001-4090), known as ‘Metrocars’, were built by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and based on the design for the German Stadtbahnwagen Type B.
Remarkably, 89 of them remain in service today, a great testament to the staff who maintain them at South Gosforth depot (opened in 1923 to service the third rail electric units introduced by the North Eastern Railway) as well as their original design.
The fleet covers around 10,000 miles a day, and the task of keeping them in service has become more difficult. However, the Metrocars, which generally operate in pairs, are due to be replaced by a new fleet of 46
Stadler-built five-car units, all of which are expected to be in service by the middle of this decade.
Nevertheless, even today, they have similarities with much more modern units, including step-free access, full-width gangways and a single-lever cab control for acceleration and braking. Each consists of two articulated sections and sits on three wheelsets, the inner ends of their two halves sharing a centre bogie.
The vehicles are steel-framed with aluminium body panels and the outer car ends feature collision-resistant pillars and moulded fibreglass. The driving position is in a boothlike cab at each end, the remainder of the vehicle width being used for seating, giving passengers a front- or rear-facing view.
The trains are fitted with rheostatic and disc brakes, along with emergency magnetic track brakes and have a maximum speed of 80kph (50mph – distance and speed on the system has always been measured in metric units).
‘Idiosyncrasies’
In 1975, the two prototypes – Nos.
4001 and 4002 – began extensive trials on a purpose-built 2.4km test track (complete with a two-road shed, station platform and specially constructed tunnel) at Middle Engine Lane on North Tyneside. Part of the site is now home to the Stephenson Railway Museum and the North Tyneside Steam Railway.
In order to evaluate couplings during testing, Nos. 4001/2 had different types at either end. The two prototypes also had centre doors on the outer vehicle ends to allow for evacuation in tunnels. This feature proved unnecessary as walkways were built in the underground sections of the system and therefore it wasn’t included on the production Metrocars, which were built between from 1978-81.
The prototypes were modified to the same specification as the other Metrocars before entering service in 1987.
In service, as with any new fleet, Ian Rossiter says there were a few small issues which drivers learned to deal with: “We came across little idiosyncrasies. Things that we didn’t know about them and the engineers didn’t know initially.
“We found sometimes when the trains got really full, the doors wouldn’t all close. One of them would keep opening. Somebody realised there was some insulation in the roof and it was stopping the air getting out of the cars.
“When we opened one of the hopper windows, the doors closed.”
He added: “There were microswitches behind the cab and again because of the seals on all of the equipment, the microswitches couldn’t function properly. Sometimes we couldn’t get the driver safety device.
“If you banged on the back of the cabinet behind the cab all of a sudden you could get it. These modern trains and people are seeing the driver getting out and banging on the back of the cab. Passengers were quite amused by it.” Five Brush-built 0-6-0 diesel electric shunters (numbered WL1-5), ordered for use initially during the building of the Metro system, were retained for depot and maintenance duties through the 1980s before being sold on for work on the Channel Tunnel construction project.
They were replaced by three new Hunslet overhead and battery-electric locomotives (BL1-3). WL3/4 survive in preservation following further industrial use.
Expertise
conversion) marked the completion of the initial phases.
By this time, services were running along the entirety of the North Tyneside Loop to a new western terminus in the city centre at St James (serving Newcastle United’s St James’ Park ground) and via South Gosforth through the suburbs as far as Bank Foot.
Newcastle Airport and Sunderland had been indicated as possible eventual destinations as far back as the early-1970s. In January 1990, councillors agreed to proceed with the 3.5km extension from Bank Foot to the airport. It opened on November 17 the following year.
Walkways
were converted from national rail. Sunderland University and the Stadium of Light were among the destinations added to the
Metro network.
“It wasn’t just a question of electrifying the railway and building a few chord lines at Pelaw,” recalls Ken Mackay, project director for the Sunderland extension.
“There was a huge issue about what would happen if a Metro train and a heavy train came into contact. Shared track operation like this had never been done in the UK.
“We had to go through a huge amount of safety case analysis and we did all sorts of very advanced vehicle deformation analysis about crumple zones etc.
“The only solution that would work was keeping the trains apart so the signalling system was modified in the end to make sure that would happen, but it was not immediately obvious what the solution was when we started.
‘Determination’
and to them it was a big railway. I went into every training school before it started and said to them ‘you are as good as anybody else’ and tried to give them the confidence. The training was great and it was really comprehensive.
“To be honest even now our drivers are complimented by the signallers on Network Rail. They know what they’re doing. They’re good at their job but it was a big leap.” As more than a decade of on-going refurbishment and modernisation work draws to a close, sights are set on new projects. A £103m scheme to alleviate single-track bottlenecks on the South Shields route is due to be completed in the next couple of years. In Newcastle, the first appointments have been made to the Stadler team that will manage the Metro transition to the new fleet of trains along with maintenance over its 35-year lifespan.
Nexus is also turning its attention to expanding the system. The ability of the new trains to run on both overhead electric and battery power could significantly reduce the costs of any new routes being opened. However, in the immediate future the challenge will be managing the recovery of passenger numbers and revenue as the region gets back on its feet following the Government’s lockdown measures in response to COVID-19. ■ In part two next month, Graeme will look at challenges past, present and future for the Metro.