Metro to Metrocentre

[robertclark125]

I know that this has partially been covered before, but, it's worth considering.

Money is tight at this time, but should the money be found, could an extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro west of St. James to the Metrocentre be possible? The terrain is rough, so tunnelling would be expensive, but, it would have potential for ridership. An extension to the General Hospital, and then over the tyne, in a bridge, to the Metrocentre could be possible. However, if you do that, I'd also recommend that tunnelling be started and left ready for any future westward branch to Throckley, so that services aren't disrupted if that ever starts.

Unlikely right now, but for the future?

 

[bluenoxid]

I know that this has partially been covered before, but, it's worth considering.

Money is tight at this time, but should the money be found, could an extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro west of St. James to the Metrocentre be possible? The terrain is rough, so tunnelling would be expensive, but, it would have potential for ridership. An extension to the General Hospital, and then over the tyne, in a bridge, to the Metrocentre could be possible. However, if you do that, I'd also recommend that tunnelling be started and left ready for any future westward branch to Throckley, so that services aren't disrupted if that ever starts.

Unlikely right now, but for the future?

No. Not for the future either.

It's the wrong side of the river, will involve substantial amounts of tunneling and will be incredibly expensive.

Newcastle General Hospital closed in 2010.

Best thing that could be done would be to electrify the mainline service and improve local bus links to the Metrocentre and the west end through bus priority schemes.

With regards to splashing the cash on rail, an extension of the Metro towards Throckley and Walbottle from Bank Foot and Callerton. However, a preference for Metro would be to extend towards Washington, Ponteland or Ashington.

 

[robertclark125]

Cheers for clearing the bit up about the hospital. I did post on the Nexus forum about this, and they haven't ruled out, with a good business case, a westward extension beyond St. James, possibly even to the Metrocentre.

As you say, the tunneling would be expensive, and in difficult terrain, but it would also have the most potential for ridership. Tough call really.

 

[bluenoxid]

It would be difficult to rule out in any initial desktop exercise because of the response by Councillors that it had not been considered but the inevitable expense rules it right out.

One option could be alter traffic flow around St James Park Metro station to allow for a fast bus service out of Newcastle from there. An short 100 would assist.

I think there are benefits to be had for adding certain bus routes to the Metro Network as Metro+.

 

[Grinner]

I think a link to the MetroCentre was considered as part of Nexus' "Project Orpheus". The basic idea was a route from St. James, surfacing on the old rail route through Scotswood, with a new bridge over the Tyne just opposite the MetroCentre.

One obvious problem would seem to be that most of the area it would go through is thoroughly de-populated now (unless there has been massive building since I was living there 6 years back). A northern route, through Fenham and Benwell would better serve people (especially given the student population of Fenham), but it's hard to see where such a route could go without tunnels or on-street running.

 

[edwin_m]

The other option might be a junction in the tunnel somewhere under Gateshead, surfacing to run as a tram-train through Dunston. However I think the best that might happen in the foreseeable future would be better turnback facilities at MetroCentre and an enhanced (possibly electrified) service to Central or beyond.

 

[AndrewP]

My thoughts are that when the metro trains are upgraded the opportunity is taken to move to 25kv and then integrate with the main lines and then have metro trains running through Central Station to both the metro network at Pelaw and Manors as well as bringing in destinations such as Metro Centre, Morpeth and Durham at low or minimal cost. Consideration could also be given to reopening the line through Scotswood to Blaydon.

 

[Stats]

Cheers for clearing the bit up about the hospital. I did post on the Nexus forum about this, and they haven't ruled out, with a good business case, a westward extension beyond St. James, possibly even to the Metrocentre.

The extension to the Metro Centre on the table is from Gateshead town centre, not through the west of Newcastle. These are two of the corridors that Arup were commissioned to look into a couple of years ago for the future Metro once the current reinvigoration work has been completed.

 

[transmanche]

The other option might be a junction in the tunnel somewhere under Gateshead, surfacing to run as a tram-train through Dunston. However I think the best that might happen in the foreseeable future would be better turnback facilities at MetroCentre and an enhanced (possibly electrified) service to Central or beyond.

I think it would be better if the Metrocentre 'shorts' were extended (at least) to Blaydon, giving that station a regular service - and even better if they were extended to Prudhoe. The T&W county boundary crosses the westbound platform at Wylam station - Prudhoe is just outside the county, but is a better transport market. Coupled with a new station at Ryton and regular stops at Dunston - and you have a Metro-style service.

 

[142094]

From December there will be a lot more trains stopping at Dunston. I asked Northern why they could not run the MetroCentre services as far as Blaydon but apparently it cannot be done due to timing constraints.