The new metro

So here we have it...how the metro should look.

The only bit I'm really unsure about is the blue line's northbound route, it goes quite a way north of the city to a not particularly important area, its the best that I think of doing with the Metro Centre route though- otherwise it'd just be doubling up sections of other routes and I figured linking new places in would be better.

Newcastle West End- Here comes the hard bit

The west end of Newcastle is probably the area most in need of metro access; very densely inhabited and the people there have the metro right under their noses given good transport service to their neighbours in the centre, east and north of the city. The west enders are only ones in the town left to their own devices. And giving the hilly nature of much of the west end of town this isn't particularly nice.

Many of the same reasons which make the west end of Newcastle a desirable place for the metro however are also big factors in making any such extension very difficult (and costly) and therefore not done.

There's little way around it really. A decent west end extension will be costly and can't be so easily done with above ground track as with the other extensions I have mooted.

A few ideas for what route this extension could follow:

1: From central station head down to the Arena then out to Scotswood, crossing a bridge and then looping back to the Metro Centre.
This route is one which really should have been implemented early in the history of the metro system. There was once a railway line which ran along this route with the Scotswood Railway Bridge still being a visible reminder of its existence.
Today however...This route really isn't the best.

Railway lines do still exist coming out from central station and extending all the way to Water Street in Rye Hill. An Arena station fitted onto this would be a very good thing to have today, the Arena being a popular entertainment venue and several other businesses existing in that end of town. There is also talk of redeveloping the area massively to place more businesses (a casino is the main one I remember) around a possibly rebuilt Arena.

The trouble is...There's nowhere really worth stopping after here.
Relaying the track west of where it terminates today wouldn't be too difficult, the old location of the line is still visible along much of its former route. Newcastle Buisness Park is next which could also be a nice place for a station but this river hugging area is generally very sparse, passing well south of the dense residential areas such as Benwell.
Scotswood, our 'destination' on this leg of the line is not a big place. It used to be bigger, looking at photos from just the 2000s reveals a lot of terraced housing which has since been demolished.
Perhaps redevelopment(i.e. resurrection) of this area in co-ordination with a metro extension could be done but as things stand its not great.

If we were to decide not to cross the Scotswood Railway Bridge (a wise choice as this would make us miss Blaydon station and central Blaydon as a whole) then we could get some good use from this line by going further to Lemington and Southern Denton or perhaps with a large west and north loop Walbottle and West Denton.

This route though really not the best is not completely without merit especially if followed as part of a dedicated western riverside redevelopment but still. Its not the best.

2: Branching of the aiport line at some point to take in the western end of the west end. This could be done either through following the A1 southwards after Fawdon and heading deep into the west end or by skimming the western edge of Newcastle after Bank Foot.
This method though possible overland probably wouldn't give the best service however. To get to the city centre (very likely the most popular destination) the metro would have to follow this northwards skimming route whereas buses could just head there directly. The metro could well end up actually being slower than a bus if the traffic is right. It certainly would never be enough of an improvement to be worthwhile.

3: The most sensible tunneling extension which really should be done even if the others are not is a new station on the west end of the new science park development (old location of the brewery).
From here I would then recommend following the West Road up deep into the west end linking up the General Hospital area and Benwell. Then we've a bit of a option, turning north and linking more of Fenham, Cowgate and Kenton or (my favoured choice) continuing ever westwards to Denton.
Again there's another choice: the more aesthetically pleasing on a map heading south to make a metro centre loop or just having the yellow line stop further west than it currently does.

The big trouble here which I'm sure you've realised is there is very little open space in this direction. We need underground track.
Now, this could be done through typical tunneling but this is very difficult and takes a very long time.
I would more recommend cut and cover.
The West Road should be wide enough for this- perhaps if we're very lucky we could even just dig sections and then drop the tunnel in.
The West Road of course will experience a lot of upheaval whilst this building is going on. Even with the most ideal method of dropping tunnels in its very unlikely we could do the work entirely over night and open the road the next morning- or rather its quite unlikely we could do that and very very unlikely the health and safety people would allow it.

Nonetheless I think this is a sacrifice worth making. People can find other routes to work and the long term benefits to the west end will be enormous.

4: Taking aspects of 2 and 3 we could take the option of heading north into Fenham then towards the A1 following track and linking after Fawdon.
This route would be a lot more useful than a flat 2 and give access to areas 3 doesn't. Additionally loops do look great on a map.
The problems I see here are two-fold.
Firstly, much of the route would be a duplication of the already existing green line. A three fold duplication with the yellow line added in on the Gosforth-Monument leg.
Secondly, it would involve just as much difficult tunneling as sticking entirely to the west road and would involve tunneling under narrower and curvier roads.
This could perhaps be an advantage; the smaller roads mean less traffic disruption. But it could also give us less of a 'production line' in tunnel construction.

Washington- Harder but better

The last post about Washington discussed the Leamside route; a route which on the surface of things requires next to no work however it only bypasses Washington on its far eastern side and so would provide less than satisfactory service to the town. I believe that the main reason Washington doesn't currently have metro access is because Nexus will (can?) only follow this 'soft' route and see that it wouldn't give very effective service.

Ideally a Washington metro link needs to go right through the centre of the town. The Galleries area being a logical 'central point' for a Washington line. In an ideal world this would again of course involve lots of tunnels and slice right through the buildings. Of course though this is silly and is never going to happen.

There is though another option. The following is my proposed Washington route trying to strike a balance between good service and realism.

Since I'm tending towards the ideal here I will link this route to South Hylton in Sunderland (unlike with my last Washington post) to give Washington ( quick access to both of its neighboring cities; ideally what it needs.
So. Starting from South Hylton the track goes as follows:

Penshaw-

Following a rebuilt Leamside line it makes sense to have a diversion to Penshaw rather than going straight over the Victoria Viaduct, it would be annoying for the Penshawers to have the track so near yet so far.
It is quite a diversion and so this station is entirely optional, Station Road would seem a smart place for the station though somewhere more north easterly would make the track less of a diversion and if the line isn't following Leamside directly could fit into more of a loop then a turn around.

Pattinson-

Not far over the viaduct, just SW of the first ugly big white industrial estate building.

Teal Farm-

Right at the edge of the estate, between it and Barmston (which this station could easily be named if not for the name being used elsewhere!) following the Leamside track.

Barmston-

The track goes off the Leamside line at the top of the estate and follows the Sunderland Highway westwards with the station being towards the end of the estate.
By following the highway I mean just what I say.
Look at a typical large road- they have large green shoulders, often big enough that the motorway they are next to could double its size if further lanes were built on the green shoulders. This is more than enough room for a metro line to follow; right into the middle of town.

Washington Village-
This station is perhaps a bit close to those on either side but it seems a logical place with a heavy residential area lying just to the south and Hertburn over the road.

The Galleries-

As I've said a Galleries stop is really a requirement with a Washington metro. I would have the station more towards the Washington Highway end of the shopping centre so as to space the station a bit more from the Washington Village one.

Blackfell-
This station would be on the opposite side of the A1231 than the others, having crossed a round about near The Galleries and it being just as easy to stay on the other side or cross. As with most of these motorway huggers having easy access from the others side of the road should be required though, which wouldn't be too hard.
This station again serves a large housing area and a industrial estate (Crowther), I would place it somewhat after the primary school.

Birtley-
We've now left Washington and are heading towards Gateshead.
This station would be on the far north of the town, not in the best place really, but it is only here as we are passing Birtley anyway.

After Birtley there is a bit of a choice to make.
The by far easier way involves dashing for the east coast mainline and following that up to Newcastle central.
The harder route is to try and give Gateshead a more thorough metro service with lots of tunneling, two ways to do this could be:
1: Durham Road. Cut and Cover. The trouble here is it is a bit close to the railway anyway. Worth the effort? Nah.
2: Old Durham Road.
More central and there's also a lot of fields to skip into so its not all underground.
Construction though would still be very difficult and the reward nowhere near as great as in the main difficult area needing metro service- western Newcastle.

Overall the conservative route is by far the wiser. We will go to the railway line.

Allerdene-
Not such a great place but its en-route to the railway line. Hook close to the town and there you go, just west of Durham Road.
Its not far north of the angel of the north (400 meters. Think a walk from haymarket station to monument station) which gives a bit of extra purpose to the station I suppose in tourism.

Chowdene-

And we've joined the main railway line.
This station would be a rather important one in serving both the large residential area of Gateshead it is named for and Team Valley- Retail World being around 700 meters westwards and the rest of the huge industrial estate nearby.

Low Fell-
Up near the Ravensworth Arms hotel seems a next wise stop.
Again this serves the Team Valley industrial estate (it is huge) as well as some housing.

After this we've immediately reached another choice as the track splits in two.
The first option is to take the more westerly route which we can follow to the previously mentioned Teams station then up to Bensham and beyond Newcastle.
The second option is to take the more easterly route which would take us straight to Bensham. Here there would be room for another station (which I would name Saltwell) which would give service to a large residential area.

I would tend towards option 2 here. The main deciding factor I would see being one of whether train scheduling would permit the metro to follow this route.
As mentioned in the Cramlington extension however extension of the track to add an extra lane or two at least in some places is always an option.

Ponteland

One big oddity when looking at the existing metro is the airport line.
It stretches far to the north west of the city well out of any populated areas just to get to the airport.

This is somewhat overkill for a airport as small as Newcastle's but fair enough, I have found use for a dedicated and sanely priced airport-city link in the past. As I've mentioned in prior posts this is much better than the situation in many towns where the airport has a monopoly and charges you £10 for a 10km shuttle bus.

But, the airport line could have been so much more. Just to the west of the airport, a little more than a mile away, lies the large village (10,000 people) of Ponteland. Why is this not connected to the metro?

The airport line was not built totally from scratch, like much of the metro it was built over what used to be a railway connecting Ponteland and Newcastle. To look at satellite photos you can still clearly see where this line used to be extending north west of the airport to Ponteland.

So why then does the line definitively end at the airport and not follow to its natural conclusion?
Politics.
Ponteland lies outside of Tyne and Wear and in the county of Northumberland. Due to the way the country is organised Ponteland is denied a valuable service linking it to the nearby city where most of its population work.

If we're to be suggesting ways to improve the metro though then a extension to Ponteland really needs to be done.
Unfortunatly due to the way the airport station is built continuing directly on from there would be a needlessly difficult process with the airport car park blocking the way. Whether this would be crossed or a new station built though is neither here nor there. The end result should be the same; the addition of Ponteland to the end of the green line.

South Sunderland

One proposal which has been suggested to extend the metro in the future is to Seaham south of Sunderland.
Now to me this doesn't seem to be the best of extensions; sure the track is already there but Seaham is rather out of the way and rather small being only 20,000 people and 10km south of Sunderland. After Seaham you would then have a similar distance to follow to the 30,000 population Peterlee and after that you've 20km or so until Hartlepool- a large town which is more associated with Teeside than Tyne and Wear.
This is really far far more territory for trains than the metro.

However. The route to Seaham would involve some rather good extensions long before it gets to its destination, it is only the final leg which is a bit pointless. To get to Seaham on the Durham Coast Line you must first pass through quite a large amount of southern Sunderland. Now this area needs connecting to the network!
Sunderland is a rather south heavy city and an extension of the metro service here would really increase use and drastically improve transportation in Sunderland.

I would suggest at the very least that the metro be extended down to Ryhope, this can be done using already existing lines.

Further than this however I would then suggest in a ideal situation the construction of some new metro track. Rather than heading south and out of the city to Seaham the line should instead head west, into the outer suburbs of Sunderland.

In an ideal world this would involve a lot of tunneling, hooking well north into densely built up areas before heading through Pennywell and then linking back up with South Hylton to give a nice 'Sunderland ring'. This though will never happen. Cost unfortunately is an object.

Instead I propose the following as shown on the image. This proposal would involve little or no tunneling yet still give metro service to the outer suburbs of Sunderland; an important note to add being that one area in which a metro really shows its advantages over busses is with long distances.

Mowbray Road-

The first of the new southern metro stations I would place as the railway track crosses the named road. Already we are getting towards a built up area.

Percy Road-

This one is really in the midst of a lot of housing.
My idea of where to place this would be at the end of Matanzas Street and Fuller Road with good access from both sides of the track however anywhere in that area could be a good potential location.

Grangetown-

A somewhat less built up area but nonetheless there is a lot of housing and it seems some shops (I am unsure what those white buildings by the line are, I've never been to the area in question).
Near to Ocean Road would be a wise place to put the station it seems.

Leechmere-

This station would be the last of those on the existing track before we loop westwards. This station is quite a distance from the houses unfortunately but it has good beach access!

Ryhope-

Rather than the south the north end of Ryhope is my chosen recipient of the next station, there being a plentiful gap of open ground between it and Leechmere.

Tunstall-

Yet again we go through a gap, this time a southbound one between Ryhope and Silksworth. The south east of Tunstall seems a wise spot for the next station before we head west again.

Mill Hill-

The one difficult part of this track lies here with a big patch of allotments lying between Silksworth and Doxford. Unfortunatly some of those would have to go with the location of the station somewhere towards their south east.

Silksworth Lane-

As good a place as any to stop next seems to be as we hook northwards on Silksworth Lane.

Giley Law-

After a lot of fields we then come to Giley Law. We need not head into it too much with a station on the north west of the fields.

Farringdon-

South south west of Giley Law is the next stop at Farringdon by Silksworth Road.

East Herrington-

The final stop of this extension I would place near the Doxford Buisness Park. Here we have a bit of a tight squeeze near the roads but still it seems there is space without demolishing any buildings.


And there we have it.
What should be done in southern Sunderland (or at least something roughly like it) rather than a Seaham extension.
This extension also sets us up well for serving the 10km south west Houghton-Le-Spring (35,000 people) and the surrounding area. Though this would be far more via park and ride or bus and metro combination than a actual extension; though again in an ideal world....

Shields-Sunderland

One commonly mooted easy extension is a direct link between South Shields and Sunderland.
Though in an ideal world this would be done via tunneling right through eastern South Shields and past Marsden and Whitburn this would of course in practice be way over the top for the population in that area.
The most commonly suggested route, which has been reported in the local press, is what is shown on the map. Reconstructing a dismantled railway alignment just as the track loops to Simonside (coming from Shields), this would then take you to the southern metro track just after Brockley Whins.

My view on this is rather meh. Its not a very useful or exciting route. You could maybe have one extra station on the extension to give more service to south South Shields however overall it mostly just makes using the metro for Sunderland-South Shields quicker and doesn't actually extend the service.

This extension though does seem to be one of the most likely to occur with it being actively discussed in the press. Apparently the Metro operators are wanting stabling facilities in the Shields area and this seems to be a good place for them. Hopefully there'll be a station in it too unlike the Gosforth stables.

To Washington! - Leamside Line

The second extension I will discuss is the Washington extension.

Extending the metro to Washington will bring service to a large and totally unserved town. Also I could see an extension to Washington being very politically expedient; people in Washington are paying their taxes and funding the metro just like those in the other towns so why don't they have access to it?

The easiest way to extend to Washington would be via the Leamside Line.
The Leamside Line is a railway line which runs from Pelaw down the east side of Washington and then over the river wear at the rather pretty, Victorian-era Victoria Viaduct.

The Leamside Line has been out of use since 1991, in some places the track still exists however in others it has been removed. It is likely however that even in areas where the track still exists that major maintenance work will need to be performed on the track; total replacement in most places. So all Leamside really gives us is a easy route rather than a ready built track.

If added to the metro the route would go as follows-

Wardley-

Wardley is a rather unfortunate town in that its a bit too big to be totally adequatly served by one station but too small to be served by one.
West along the line you have a very small gap between station existing, if this rule was followed in Wardley you could get two stations- Wardley Colliery and White Mare Pool.
Northwards however towards South Shields you get rather big gaps which would make for just one Wardley station.
Here I am going with just the one, perhaps at the bridge before the Quarry Park stables; the Pelaw station also serves part of Wardley to an extent and to have three stations in this little town would be rather silly.

Follingsby-

The Follingsby Industrial Estate was formerly home to a freight station which which was the destination for most of the traffic using the line in its latter years.
Reopening this as a metro station wouldn't make for one of the more popular stations on the network however people do work in the area and it is spaced such from the others that it is yet another 'we might as well'.
Given the amount of space in the area perhaps this could be a good place for a park and ride for those working in Newcastle much like the current East Boldon.

Stephenson-

The next station will again serve a largely business rather than residential area but again spacing has made it so that this is a logical spot to place a station as we come into Washington.

Sulgrave-

After Stephenson the next part of Washington to be passed is Sulgrave and here we finally have a big residential area to serve. As with much of the Leamside line however unfortunatly we're on the far east end of it. Nonetheless a station here would be used a lot, I would place it around the place the A1290 crosses the track.

Barmston

Just south of the Sunderland highway would seem the next smart place for a metro station. This would perhaps be the best station on the route being right in the midst of a industrial and residential area.

Teal Farm-

Barmston is so big that we can really squeeze in two stations here, this one being at the far south of the estate where it borders onto others including Teal Farm.

Pattinson-

The last station in Washington shoudl be around the bend serving the Pattinson area. Again though on the far east of the area it is a rather large area.

After Pattinson we have a number of choices of what to do next if this route is the one we're following.

1: End of the line. The metro train then heads back to Newcastle.
2: Cross the Victoria Viaduct to serve the towns of Penshaw and Shiney Row then go home.
3: Cross the Victoria Viaduct then after an optional Penshaw visit loop around to join the Sunderland line at South Hylton. Penshaw is quite out of the way and you would get a strange nook nonetheless I think it would be rather cruel to come so near to this town and not actually serve it.

Additionally if we are to be going up to South Hylton the old Durham-Sunderland line (the route of which is still visible and would be logical to follow) passes through the small village of Coxgreen. This village however I feel is a bit too small to be given its own metro station unless some development is planned in the area; I somehow doubt though that this would be wanted by the residents or done by the council.

I will be taking the simplest most conservative option her; the entire point of this post being the 'easy' way of connecting Washington. On the picture the colours mean the same as before with the addition of red for the new Washington line.