Major line closure on Tyne and Wear Metro begins today
There will be no service between Pelaw and South Shields until December
The biggest major line closure ever seen on the Tyne and Wear Metro gets underway today, with no service between Pelaw and South Shields from today until December.
It's part of the Metro Flow project, part of a huge modernisation and improvement works being carried out by Nexus.
Customers travelling between Pelaw and South Shields are being strongly advised to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys.
Nexus say a 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.”