Award for the man who made Metro a reality
THE Tyne and Wear Metro and the man who masterminded its creation have scooped a special public transport industry award.
The Global Light Rail Awards recognised the overwhelming success of the Metro system as it celebrates its 40th anniversary year, along with the work of the pioneering civil engineer who made it become a reality.
The Judges’ Special Award was jointly presented to Metro’s operator, Nexus, and to Professor Tony Ridley, the former Director General who led the Metro project in its early years, paving the way for a system that revolutionised local public transport.
Prof Ridley, a respected civil engineer from Sunderland, headed up the Tyne and Wear PTE from 1968 to 1975. He was part of a team of visionary planners who devised the Metro network. He oversaw the planning process, the award of funding, and the first year of construction work in 1974.
Managing Director Transport North East, Tobyn Hughes, who is also the current Director General of Nexus, said: “It was Tony Ridley and a group of visionary planners who first came up with the idea of taking decaying rail lines and linking them using city centre tunnels and a bridge over the River Tyne. What they created is what we know as the Tyne and Wear Metro 40 years on.
“Tony oversaw the development of the Metro plans, the successful bid for Government funding, and he led some of the initial construction work. It is Tony Ridley who we have to thank for the first idea of a Metro network. My thanks go to everyone who works on the system now, and who has worked on it over the last 40 years.”
Prof Tony Ridley left the Tyne and Wear PTE in 1975 to become the first managing director of the Hong Kong Metro system. He later went on to manage the London Underground and the development of the Docklands Light Railway.
As Professor of Transport Engineering at Imperial College London, Ridley was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and President of the Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA). He was Director of the University of London Centre for Transport Studies and is Emeritus Professor of Transport Engineering at Imperial College London.
Paul Rowen, current LRTA Chair, offered these words in his introduction to the award: “Professor Ridley’s understanding of how best to unify and galvanise planners, engineers and politicians helped achieve Government approval for the Metro’s construction against a backdrop of swingeing cuts, and following his time in the North East, he has had a stunning career leading major projects and transport authorities around the world.”
The first passenger services were running by August 11, 1980 between Haymarket and Tynemouth, though the official opening by Her Majesty the Queen happened on November 6, 1981.