Relaid track puts Tyne and Wear Metro on schedule

The intended December 4 reopening date for the Tyne & Wear Metro’s upgraded section between Pelaw and South Shields remains on track, with the £104 million track-dualling programme on schedule.

Almost two miles of route has been relaid and five junctions replaced so far during the planned 12-week closure, the longest in the system’s 42-year history.

The elimination of three singleline bottleneck sections (PelawHebburn, Hebburn-Jarrow and Jarrow-Bede) will improve reliability of the whole system, by providing scope for faster recovery of the timetable if an incident occurs.

Under the route widening scheme, the adjacent freight spur to the Jarrow oil depot will be part of the Metro’s infrastructure. This will enable an increase in service frequencies to South Shields when the new Stadler Class 555 trains enter service.