History of Tyne and Wear Metro - Documentary - The Way Ahead

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The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving the metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear).
The network opened in stages from August 1980 and now serves a total of 60 stations, with two lines covering 48.2 miles (77.6 km) of track.
In the early 1970s, the poor local transport system was identified as one of the main factors holding back the region's economy, and in 1971 a study was commissioned by the recently created Tyneside Passenger Transport Authority (now known as Nexus) into how the transport system could be improved. This study recommended reviving the badly run-down former Tyneside Electrics network by converting it into an electrified rapid transit system, which would include a new underground section to better serve the busy central areas of Newcastle and Gateshead.
The plans were approved by the Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Bill, which was passed by Parliament in July 1973.
Three railway lines, totalling 26 miles (42 km) were to be converted into Metro lines as part of the initial system - these being the North Tyneside Loop and Newcastle to South Shields branch (both of which were formerly part of the Tyneside Electrics network), and a short stretch of the freight-only Ponteland Railway between South Gosforth and Bank Foot, which had not seen any passenger traffic since 1929.
Construction work began in October 1974. This involved the construction of the new infrastructure, re-electrifying the routes with overhead line equipment, the upgrading or relocation of existing stations, and the construction of several new stations, some of which were underground. By 1984, the final cost of the project was £265 million (equivalent to £871 million in 2022).
The initial network opened August 7th 1980. The following year Queen Elizabeth II visited Tyneside and officially opened the Newcastle to Gateshead route. In 1984 the Heworth to South Shields line was completed. Two more stations were added in 1985, Kingston Park was officially opened on the 15th of September and Pelaw was opened the following day on the 16th.
Further extensions to the original network were opened in November 1991 (from Bank Foot to Airport) and March 2002 (from Pelaw to Sunderland and South Hylton).
Credits: John Woodvine (Narrator)
Organisations:
Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive
Tyne & Wear County Council
Promotional film made by Turners Film and Video Productions

[@davidbull7210]

The last roll of the dice from the pre Thatcher era when public transport was seen as a genuine way to improve ordinary people's lives. There's no other system in the country that compares to the scale of this after 40 or so years.

[@sglenny001]

The most you got is Merseyrail and metrolink

[@LeeCorne]

@@sglenny001 This was what Manchester's PiccVic underground system was meant to be. Metrolink is a pretty decent and successful alternative

[@sglenny001]

@LeeCorne ahh yea that's what it called

[@davidbull7210]

@@sglenny001 Merseyrail was more of a heavy rail enhancement to an existing system but yes it comes close.

[@sglenny001]

@@davidbull7210 yea

[@dean6816]

I remember in the early 2000s they used to have guest speakers voices recorded saying _"Stand clear of the doors please"_ over the Metro Tannoys on the trains.

[@Lensman864]

Marvellous! I lived in Whitley Bay from 1969 to 1982, then North Shields and Longbenton so I'm very familiar with the pre and post Metro systems. I spent my youth on the Metro until leaving Tyne & Wear in 1987. This is a very interesting and historically important film and the transfer quality is excellent. Thank you for posting it! 🙂

[@sglenny001]

In your opinion do wish the metro never came to whitby Bay also how do wish it to expand 😊

[@FozzQuaker]

​@sglenny001 I think the logical expansion at this point, is connecting Washington from both Pelaw and South Hylton on the Leamside Line

[@petervaughan6854]

It’s amazing how good this system still is. Admittedly it’s now in need of modernisation, but it’s been running over 40 years with precious few changes! And it’s pretty comfortable when compared with the southern and south western services in my area! So glad it was built; with other cities could be so ambitious these days!

[@wagamamahemmeroids]

This is so cool. It's crazy to see that most of the stations even look the same today - those white and yellow modular wall panels will always be nostalgic to me

[@eldrago19]

1970s: with careful consideration of local communities, the disabled, working conditions, public safety, and electricity supply, we'd like to unveil our automated integrated metro system. 2010s: so we gave the ferry contact to a company with no ferrys, running out of a port that's silted up, which has a login portal that takes you to Google, and copied its terms of service from a Pizza place. Don't worry, it'll be fine.

[@OriginsReborn]

I remember in 1977 the newly arrived Metro Trains being tested on the track near Four Lane Ends. We used to race them on Balliol School field as the track ran alongside. We had the edge in the first 30 yards but then the Metros zoomed past us! Happy times seeing these bright shiny yellow wonders for the first time!

[@moramento22]

Now another generation can see another batch of trains being tested up and down the network.

[@MrS1ebee]

I absolutely loved this documentary.... What a brilliant project. Clear aims, delivered efficiently and quickly, took on board the best practice from across Europe and creates new best practice in terms of accessibility and integrated design / ticketing. I love the Metro, just don't understand why this model wasn't run with in some of our other big cities.

[@marksinthehouse1968]

Fantastic yellow and white buses and metro cars ,Newcastle had one of the best PTEs it all looked great until thatcher came and deregulation 😢,even Tyne tees Tv has gone ,razzmatazz and the tube ,happier times now it’s not ,great video 😊

[@mouf725]

Nexus should consider reintroducing bus franchising using the powers of the Bus Services Act 2017 - I cannot believe Thatcher was allowed to get away with such a terrible decision! Telling too that London was left out of the Transport Act 1986, creating a two tiered system of London versus the rest of the country :(

[@eldrago19]

Wow, everything is so well engineered, everything has been thought through. These days it'd probably be contracted out to whoever the transport secretary was friends with. And people wonder why stuff costs 5 times as much.

[@simonbone]

Metro did go well over budget (260 million vs 160) and opened more than a year late, so there's that.

[@simonbone]

18:16 Delighted to see two DECwriters, four 2.5-megabyte Digital Equipment RK05J removable disk drives, and a PDP-11/34 minicomputer controlling the whole Metro.

[@LeeCorne]

I wonder what they currently use for it. A Raspberry Pi running emulation could probably replace it nowadays :D

[@yvonnemoniz6244]

Wonderful documentary, Brought back a lot of memories, I left the UK over 50 years ago, but come “home” every 5 years,

[@abitrich68]

Great documentary. The Metro system will be great when it's finished and actually connects all parts of the city

[@metrotyler]

It hasn't been expanded since 2008, so have fun waiting. They want to bring it to Metrocentre but they've had the government fund plea open for an insanely long time with no funding.

[@andymurday4538]

Great documentary explaining Newcastle's Metro system.

[@user-PK-23]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you so much for uploading this very interesting documentary! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - ❤

[@Arnold_M1989]

I'm very keen on urban transportation and the history behind it so this was very interesting! many thanks👏🏾

[@PeaveyPV20]

That was brill. Used to use metro alot when i lived in gateshead. Shame its never been extended to washington

[@viewsoftyneside]

It will be extended to Washington in the next couple of years. The plans were recently approved.

[@Juliukas101]

It's because they wanted to keep the chavs in them Sulgrave flats out of town! They're too lazy to walk to South Hylton. Washy village is nice though.

[@reg039]

Naci en el Puerto, Nunca vivi ahi, pero lo visitaba casi diaramente...Primero desde Limache y despues de Vina...Cuando regreso a la Quinta Region desde las USA's, Lo primero que hago es ir a los Cerros de Vina por la Noche a gozar de las luces de los Cerros de Valpo. Que EMOCION mas linda. Lloro de felicidad !!!

[@EmberTheFoxyFox]

I see a northern pacer there, cant believe they have only recently been retired

[@praveenm5723]

I hope the old class 599 are still around when I come to visit newcastle 🦋

[@melanierhianna]

The line to Kenton Bank Foot wasn’t new. It was the Ponteland branch built in the Victorian Era. It still existed as a link to the Callerton ICI depot even after the metro took over to Bank Foot. Admittedly since it did not get electrified by the NER unlike the coastal loop, it didn’t have much passenger traffic and closed to passengers in the 1930s. They were still using Ponteland station for goods and storage though in the 60s.

[@andrewbutler6477]

The metro system is now being built or rebuilt in Cardiff and valleys area 50 years after the Tyne and wear metro

[@markrl75]

The Tyneside Metro was almost cancelled in 1976/77 after the Callaghan Labour Government went cap in hand to the IMF for an emergency £3.9 billion pound loan and bailout. The IMF bankers in Washington DC then went through Britain's intended capital expenditure list with a red pen and directed Chancellor Denis Healey to cancel the Metro (along with a whole load of other national projects). By this time most of the heavy construction and tunnelling had actually been completed and it was Labours transport secretary Bill Rodgers (later one of the gang of four founding members of the SDP) who persuaded the IMF to change their minds. Newcastle would otherwise have been left with a load of empty useless tunnels. Much of the spoil from the tunnelling work was actually coal and was therefore sold to the National Coal board.

[@Bicyclehub]

A very interesting comment.

[@markrl75]

@@Bicyclehub - What I should also have added is that President Jimmy Carter visited Newcastle in 1977 and was descretely lobbied by Council leader Jeremy Beecham. I believe Jimmy once back in Washington may have put in a call to the IMF to get things moving. Jimmy (now nearly 100 years old) recently gave an interview stating Newcastle was one of his most memorable presidential visits. He returned in 1987 to receive a Freeman of the city award.

[@melanierhianna]

Yes, before we became part of the common market the country was a broke basket case. And now we are heading back that way!

[@LeeCorne]

Things can only get better ;)

[@xprs1257]

Fantastic documentary on a great system. Shame society has gone downhill since though.

[@Goster73]

Society has indeed took a serious nosedive since the '80s that's for sure.

[@baseballfan99]

That’s Tory individualism for you.

[@Deetimes1]

Did you really just say “a great system’ 😂😂 Its an absolute mess, joke, and waste of time…

[@melanierhianna]

The misogyny, racism and bigotry, homophobia and transphobia is a lot better than the 80s. Which bit of society do you think has gone down hill?

[@chrisstucker1813]

I bet people said the same back then too.

[@rufusfromjohto7515]

Between metro flow, the new trains and extensions the future looks good.

[@wearsidetransport1825]

Where is the extension i Heard the one to the galleries (Washington) was cancelled, I don’t know about grangetown, ryhope, and Doxford international.

[@rufusfromjohto7515]

@@wearsidetransport1825 the amount of chatter about it is promising, but nothing committal. Like how in metro flow they talk about "reopening an old frieght line" but not which one.

[@wearsidetransport1825]

@@rufusfromjohto7515 aswell I don’t know how they would cope opening a new line unless they ordered more of the new trains or keep some of the current ones in service.

[@rufusfromjohto7515]

@@wearsidetransport1825 when the government gave them extra funding they bumped up their order by 4 trains. Also I imagine ordering more in the future wouldn't be a problem considering how modular Stadler trains are.

[@fetchstixRHD]

Speaking of Metro Flow, interesting how at 13:40 there's the goods trains sharing the metro tracks, and now it's come back around to track sharing of [now] Metro tracks...

[@Jeffybonbon]

we are so lucky we got metro

[@danwoodhouse9290]

15:28 i see a District Line D stock there in the background

[@bfapple]

Of course - built concurrently.

[@eiruggriffiths8491]

Wish Swansea had thought of something similar.

[@sglenny001]

They probably did but some iron lady came along

[@Juliukas101]

That music from 00:21:00 was also used in Prisoner: Cell Block H.

[@skyem123]

That's interesting, I wonder if it's possible to find the exact track... Do you have any idea on how to narrow it down? I tried to find playlists of soundtracks but couldn't find it, but maybe I was going through them too fast...

[@Juliukas101]

@@skyem123 Yes, there is a channel called Prisoner Music, I think. The track was definitely used in either the fire storyline where Margo throws a molotov cocktail into the store cupboard, and / or the Ballinger siege. If you search "Music from Prisoner Cell Block H" you will find a playlist of all the different pieces of library music they used, so you can skip through them. You should only need to listen to 5 seconds of each one to find it. I will try to find it over the weekend.

[@Juliukas101]

@@skyem123 Actually I have just found the correct piece. It's called "Alien" and was written by Alan Parker.

[@skyem123]

@@Juliukas101 Oh, nice find. I gave it a listen and yeah it sounds like the same thing. What's funny is that it wasn't on the playlist I was going through for some reason?

[@Juliukas101]

@@skyem123 It's definitely that one.

[@adammassacre4715]

That intro music! Feel like Edward Woodward is about to appear through the night fog in a back alley in New York and was gonna kick some street punk arse lol

[@Boxersteavee]

"smoothly, quickly, and reliably"... Well it definitely doesn't now.

[@section451]

The rolling stock needed to be replaced a decade ago, but the usual story no money forthcoming. They can't get spares and had to start cannilbalising the existing trains.

[@jontalbot1]

It was the only time in Britain where there was an integrated public transport system with through ticketing. So naturally the Tories put an end to that with the stupid 1986 Transport Act. The party that doesn’t believe in government making sure it doesn’t work.

[@melanierhianna]

Except for Leeds, Manchester, London and so on where you can use smart cards to do through ticketing.

[@melanierhianna]

No thanks to the Tories though.

[@jontalbot1]

@@melanierhianna But it is not integrated. That means when you got off the bus, the metro was there and when you got off that the train to Sunderland was waiting. Public transport on Tyneside until the 86 Act was planned as one not each operator working separately. That was deemed to be socialism and a terrible thing ffs. We have 40 years of this bs dogma in transport and everything else

[@jontalbot1]

@@melanierhianna The other aspect of the change in the law was to remove subsidy. The system in Tyneside was cheap to the user cos it was heavily subsidised. So you got a frequent, reliable and cheap system for users. Result? Heavy usage, fewer cars on the road, greater mobility for people on low incomes, less pollution, less spending on road traffic infrastructure, fewer deaths and accidents. Most people don’t think about or understand transport policy but the 86 Act was pure vandalism

[@jontalbot1]

@@melanierhianna Integrated means not just through ticketing but also complementary timetabling so that the bus is waiting when you get off the metro and the train when you get off the bus. To Thatcherites this is wrong because it is not ‘competition’ ffs

[@thebyronicmann]

Sounded like Mary Mungo and Midge at the beginning.

[@Lighting_Desk]

Still a classic. Shes not perfect but she is iconic.

[@mattevans4377]

Them: We made making extensions as easy as possible Governments: We don't care

[@richardsharpe2966]

This is a transport system, Sheffield Leeds Nottingham and Derby should have had

[@xr6lad]

And Edinburgh. Who closed much of their suburban services in the 60’s.

[@sglenny001]

Leeds Is a joke

[@melanierhianna]

Leeds is the largest city in Europe without a rapid transit system. Central government doesn’t help by canning all infrastructure projects which might actually benefit the city.

[@timbird9732]

How did it all go so wrong

[@walker3050]

I was there that day.

[@GunnerEuYT]

And we still use the same train today on the metro

[@chrisstucker1813]

0:14 is that Sunderland road?

[@Chevy-jordan]

0:13 “A system that is new to Britain” F*** right off! We invented the metro in the 1800s, ‘Metro’ comes from the Metropolitan line which was the world’s first underground railway. What it was is that we saw how other countries built their metros in the planning stages of a city, rather than how we foolishly believed the car would solve all our transport needs within major metropolitan areas. The 60s/70s was the time Britain should’ve built metro systems in all our major cities. Birmingham/Manchester should have proper underground metro systems not trams.

[@sglenny001]

What it means is it that buses and trains working toghther

[@usr82912]

"reliable" oh how times would change. Lucky if it turns up now.

[@xr6lad]

@ 1:30. Oh my god, it’s Hilda Ogden. She must have gone to visit relatives in Newcastle!

[@andrewphippsphillips1455]

She's a bit young to be Hilda

[@Alanphuphalee]

Hi do you know who owns this footage? I want to use it in my music video! Possibly nexus?

[@craigix]

I hope your music is as bad ass as the music at 20:55 in the video

[@michaelcampin1464]

That unit 4001 still runs today shows like of investment on the system

[@michaelcampin1464]

The area did have fantastic systems until the Tyne Route was abolished and most of Sunderlands railways ripped up and now surprise surprise rebuilt as far as South Hylton. The scheme is based on Newcastle nowhere else

[@Gaston0695]

This is from 1984

[@tanyaburton3122]

This was made sometime between 1984 and 1985

[@john-h4k6m]

0:38 does anyone know what business that ad is for that says "cameron"?

[@MrS1ebee]

Pretty sure Cameron's was a north east based brewery

[@geoffpope5076]

@@MrS1ebee you are correct.

[@chrissmith1757]

only heard one north east accent all the way through

[@michaelcampin1464]

It does not serve Tyne & Wear mainly just Newcastle just look at the timetable.Sunderland is vastly neglected despite paying for it for years and years . George Stephenson lived in Wylam. Not Tyne & Wear

[@OriginsReborn]

George Stephenson also lived in West Moor, at Dial Cottage, which is Tyne & Wear.

[@kingarthur7250]

The metro in ne is a joke. Overcrowded...outdated....and expensive ie no mon to fri passes for workers etc. On top of this limited stops..in sshields you have to get a bus to get to metro stop from cleadon or the nook so it only serves one dide of shields. Its also damned slow and very old tech. London getting the billions check out their new underground line compare to our tram on tracks system...a joke tbh. We live in dark ages in northeast..compared to london abd most of eu too.

[@gaoeykreg]

I think it says a lot that the Metro arrived just as the Tories were entering power. A few years later, and I doubt the Metro would have been built at all. Labour don’t get away scot free of course, they’ve had ample years to get it right. The political appetite for decent public transport has been eroded over the decades since. Hopefully with the new Metro cars and the planned extension to Washington as well as a possible Labour government, the next big boom for T&W Metro may be on the horizon. I live in Wigan on the outskirts of Greater Manchester and we have nothing beyond local buses. I wish we had the Metro. Even the Metrolink is hit and miss with terribly slow moving street sections, especially in Manchester city centre.

[@Liamisinthehouse]

Get off the metro now!

[@sglenny001]

Why

[@ImNotBeingFunny]

Are you laughing at me? On the metro?

[@michaelcampin1464]

Please get real. This is not correct. Its all to do with Newcastle. Look at state of of Tynemouth or Cullercoats Stations or even Whitley Bay a disgrace the way the system has been abused

[@terryjohnson6857]

Tyne and Wear is the cheapest Metro system I've ever been on. Almost every station has no ticket barriers so every journey is FREE! No wonder it makes no money and has asked Central Government for funding. INSALL TICKET BARRIERS!

[@cameronyoungcg9270]

If they install ticket barriers, they need to hire staff to oversee them, I believe there was a court case about it. Cheaper to just not install them and hope people are honest.