Wherein we look at the effects and constraints of reopening a railway, extending a metro rail network, as well as improving service and capacity in the North East. As well as the interconnectedness of the main lines up and down the country.
The Northumberland Line to Ashington which opened in December 2024 has been a surprising success, meeting it’s ridership targets within months, not years. Come May 2025, the line has already seen 350,000 passengers, five months in, over five times the estimated ridership, even though half of the line’s six stations haven’t even opened yet. The car parks at Ashington, Newsham, and Seaton Delaval stations are regularly busy [updated - Ed.]. Trains are standing room only on matchdays and at some other times. Fortunately, the platforms were designed for longer trains, and talks have been held with Network Rail and Northern about lengthening the trains.
The remaining stations Bedlington and Northumberland Park (both with parking), and Blyth Bebside are now due to open in early 2026, and there is no reason to think that they will not prove equally popular. This line has also been integrated with the region’s Tyne and Wear Metro fares through the acceptance of its ‘Pop’ PAYG card, even before devolution takes hold.
The £298m project has reached five times the original ridership estimate – 250,000 journeys made by Easter, against an initial prediction of 50,000 (and worries of being a failure and a waste of money). On matchdays and other days, the two-car trains are close to capacity – Northumberland County Council (NCC) is already talking with Network Rail and Northern about adding additional cars to the trains to avoid passengers having to stand. Fortunately, the line’s six new stations were built to accommodate four-car trains.
We note that the five stations within Northumberland have free car parks, unlike car parks at the vast majority of stations throughout the country. However, as a result this has led to some non-rail car parking, using up capacity, likely because the station car parks are better lit, and don't have time limits.
This isn’t the only new infrastructure for the North East. The Government announced in its Spending Review on June 4, 2025, a £1.85bn public transport funding deal agreed with the North East Combined Authority (NECA). The core of this North East’s transport network investment is £900m allocated to a Tyne and Wear Metro extension through Washington. Other aspects also being funded are safer walking and cycling routes, new bus priority measures, and road maintenance. This funding is just part of new Government’s transport announcements for the country.
Given the overwhelming success of the Northumberland Line re-opening, the North East is also looking at doing something similar with the Leamside Line south of Newcastle. It is also an abandoned railway, and two restoration plans are in process to restore tracks to its alignment. Most advanced is the Metro Washington extension on the northern part of the alignment, but plans are being developed to bring the southern part back into railway use too.
There are many similarities between the abandoned Leamside Line and the freight-only Northumberland line – both go through communities that haven't had passenger rail service for over half a century.
Overgroundisation
There is also a degree of similarity with reopened segments of the London Overground in 2011 and 2012. Track was restored to the former Broad Street viaduct of the North London line to extend the East London line northwards to Dalston Junction (Overground line names as were – they are now Mildmay and Windrush lines respectively). The East London line was also extended on a branch west-southwestwards to Clapham Junction via a connecting railway alignment between Surrey Quays and Queen's Road Peckham that had been disused since 1913.
Tremendous ridership resulted from the opening of these segments, and by linking them to the wider upgrading of North London, West London, and South London railways to TfL’s Overground standard. The appearance of the Overground on the Tube Map also raised the profile of this new network, and the map’s trusted status meant that passengers also had trust in the service they would receive on the Overground. This effect has given rise to the term Overgroundisation,
Although the Northumberland (Ashington) Line in Tyne and Wear is proving successful, the lesser degree of integration between the Metro network (owned by NECA’s transport executive body Nexus) and the Ashington Line (owned by Network Rail, and operated by DfT Operator Northern Rail) can be seen in local rail maps. While the Overground appears on the regular Tube map (not without some controversy), the Northumberland Line does not appear regularly on Tyne and Wear Metro maps, being restricted mostly to fare information maps like the one reproduced earlier in this article.
The other Washington Metro
Let’s look at the basis for the Washington Metro extension. The disused Leamside Line runs 21 miles / 34 km between Pelaw in Gateshead south to Tursdale in County Durham. It was closed to passenger service in the 1960s, but continued in freight use for the next few decades.
The following is the plan for the ‘Metro Washington loop’, and future possibility of reopening the ‘Leamside South’ section to enable rail services to run between Heworth, and Ferryhill, freeing up capacity on the East Coast Main Line to the west ( the left side blue ‘Current Rail’ line).
Of particular interest along this line is Washington, a 1960s new town situated west of Sunderland and south of Gateshead. It has since grown to be the fourth largest town in the UK without a rail connection, which is a key driver in the impetus to re-open this railway. It would connect tens of thousands of homes in this new town directly to Newcastle and Sunderland city centres, reducing journey times, car dependency and pollution. It's important to note however that Washington is fairly low density and designed for cars, as all new towns were. The town centre is 2km from the line at its closest, and the line predominantly runs through the industrial estate on the eastern outskirts of town. Nonetheless, the full parking lots of the Northumberland Line demonstrate the popularity of park and ride.
The Leamside Line is key to the current proposals, and have a three phase approach:
- Pelaw south to South Washington (not crossing the River Wear).
- South Washington to South Hylton and hence Sunderland (both these phases are shown by the red line on the above map).
- The gap to the ECML at Ferryhill, including a new East Durham (Belmont) station. More about this later.
The concept of the Washington Metro extension has been around for many years, appearing in Tyneside's transport planning document by the mid-70s. Note that this pre-dated the Tyne and Wear Metro. After the initial Metro system opening, there were years when the North East was on a roll with Metro extensions, to Newcastle Airport, and to Sunderland. The Washington Metro branch was the obvious next one and was talked about in the same way that we were once confidently talking about Crossrail 2.
Two puzzling loops
We were initially puzzled by the two loops shown as possible further extensions (the red with white dots curves on the map). They don’t appear elsewhere, and their inclusion on the map is not described anywhere.
What we found out is that these two dotted red lines represent valuable connections:
1. the eastern curve between Bolden and Tyne Dock - this would largely involve upgrading existing track on the NR Tyne Dock branch (which has reasonable daily freight volumes), reinstating Green lane junction, and electrifying the track.
2. the western curve - this would be a new curve east of Pelaw in open land.
These would address the following:
a. There is limited capacity to run all the trains they potentially would like on the expanded south of the Tyne network – so they need to find a destination for South of Tyne trains. Having better links the South Shield branch to the others is good, as not everyone wants to go to central Tyneside or north of the Tyne.
b. Journey times between stations on different branches south of the Tyne need to be competitive – which both connections 1. & 2. would help with.
c. Point 2. gives reversal (i.e. not at Pelaw!) free freight access to the Jarrow Dock freight branch to/from a reinstated Leamside line. This is key to shifting freight to the Leamside Line and off the Durham Coast line via Sunderland – this helps both Metro and Northern/Grand Central, including opening up passenger capacity in the Teesside area.
d. depending on the precise nature of rebuild at Green Lane Junction (as part of 1.) - this could allow freight services to/from Tyne Dock to run reversal free from the Leamside line again with massive benefits for passenger capacity.
Planning the Washington Metro Loop
In 2022, Transport North East and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership had developed the initial business case for the Washington Metro (also called ‘Wearside Loop’ at the time) which built upon previous engineering feasibility and demand forecasting. The modelling predicts that the Metro extension would generate nearly 8 million additional passenger journeys a year, replace almost 1.7 million car journeys, and create over £90m per year in economic benefits to the region. Furthermore, it would reduce carbon emissions by nearly 87,000 tonnes a year.
The Metro loop would split off from the existing Pelaw station south along the Leamside Line, with new stations at Follingsby, Washington North, and Washington South. although the exact station locations and names yet to be confirmed. It would then turn east and join to the current Metro terminus of South Hylton. The latter station feels more like the finishing point of just one phase of Metro development, with the disused trackbed extending beyond the station and clearly visible from the platforms. It is now a 2.5 mile walking and cycling path. The 2022 estimate to rebuild this railway and construct the stations along the 13.5 km loop was set at £745m. This included the additional trains required.
The Outline Business Case (OBC) for the Metro extension to Washington will provide information on proposed stops and stations, economic impact, and estimated cost. Transport North East’s reopened Northumberland line. The OBC will also assess potential further extensions which would enable direct services from Washington and Sunderland to South Shields. It is anticipated to take two to three years to develop. If approved and funded, construction could begin in 2030, opening in 2033.
Not mentioned in any announcement to date is that Nexus will also have to find the money to replace the Metro signalling system, which is largely unchanged since it was built. Complicating the replacement is the jointly operated section (with Northern) to Sunderland. We understand this is planned over the next 5 years.
Full steam ahead
New North East Mayor Kim McGuinness appointed Arup technical consultants to develop the design for the Metro to Washington project, as part of a feasibility study. It will included survey and design work for the stations, bridges, and other key infrastructure.
It would be the first new Metro extension in over 20 years (specifically, the Sunderland line which opened in 2002). It would create a new route between Sunderland and Newcastle, through the growing town of Washington and the country’s largest advanced manufacturing area around the Nissan car factory there.
McGuinness campaigned on the promise to bring the Metro to Washington, as well as to re-open the entire abandoned Leamside rail route through County Durham and Sunderland. One of her first actions upon being elected in 2024 was to approve £8m to kick-start work towards extending the Metro to Washington.
Angel Network
Mayor McGuinness’ long term vision is to create the ‘Angel Network’ – a fully integrated public transport network with buses under public control, more electric buses running along priority lanes, and contactless smart travel to enable free transfers between modes. This is to support new home building and improve economic prospects across the region. This is named for the iconic Antony Gormley sculpture Angel of the North in Gateshead, which is visible from ECML.
Integrated intermodal ticketing transport is easier with the Pop app
The Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) smartcard or Android phone app is now accepted on local rail services between Newcastle Central and Ashington. Pop greatly simplifies fare payment by automatically calculating the cheapest combined fare for those using Metro and rail.
The backstory is that the region’s public transport had already been intermodally integrated when the Metro opened. The bus network was organised into feeder routes to the Metro, for onward journey to and from the centre. This was especially beneficial to the east, as the Metro had a convenient bridge across the River Tyne, far better than buses on the congested road bridges.
However, what really slowed Metro expansion and ridership was Margaret Thatcher's bus deregulation. Once buses were deregulated, bus companies lengthened their routes to take passengers all the way into the city centre, even though this caused additional congestion overall. This also resulted in significant loss of Metro income, and meant all hopes of further expansion at the time were unrealistic. Fortunately, an integrated fares policy for the area is already in work.
But fare confusion remains
Despite the great start that has been made on intermodal fare integration, public transport fares are otherwise a confusing mess of options. There are single fares, then a number of options for multi-zone fares. and Pop is accepted in some forms on some local rail lines, but not others. An upgrade to Pop PAYG is expected later in 2025, allowing for daily capping to be introduced on Metro, buses, ferry, and the Northumberland Line. Local campaign group North East Public Transport Users Group (NEPTUG) have called for this to be quickly rolled out to all local rail lines in the North East, and to be quickly following by the Contactless bank payments with daily and weekly capping, in order to simplify public transport.
On top of that, there are two local Northern Train lines, but the fares rules to ride them are the opposite of each other. The Northumberland Line allows Pop Pay As You Go but not Metro fares, whereas the Sunderland Line allows Metro fares but not Pop. Furthermore, Northern Trains tickets are only valid on the Metro between Sunderland and Newcastle Central stations. It all makes no sense to passengers.
Heading west from Central Station is the Tyne Valley line which serves the large regional MetroCentre shopping mall (which is also served by many bus routes). The Edificity video Why Doesn't the Metro Go to the Metrocentre? explains why this massive mall is not on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
We note that the Tyne Valley line no longer appears on contemporary Nexus maps, nor does it appear on the Fares page. Although a brief mention is made of MetroCentre station on the Transfare page as follows: “Transfares bought on Metro or bus or ferry will be accepted on Northern Rail services between Sunderland and the Metrocentre.”
This Nexus page also includes the Transfare Zone Map (dated January 2008) shewn below, which corresponds to the current fare scheme’s zones (except the South Shields branch’s Zone B/C boundary station is now Bede, not Simonside as it was originally):
The fare instructions for this map state that Transfares purchased are accepted on Northern Rail services between Sunderland and MetroCentre. Evidently, this Tyne Valley Line west of Central Station, in black, is no longer included in the Tyne and Wear fare zones.
As a result, there are three local passenger railway services in Tyne and Wear, but all three have unique fare integration rules!
Hopefully, the ‘Angel Network’ will resolve these odd fare peculiarities with the Pop card roll out across region to get rid of complicated fare rules. Which should be the case as the Mayor has promised that it will be a ‘fully integrated sustainable public transport network’. Making the intermodal fare options much clearer, and automatic in most cases would result in a much easier to use system, like Oyster in and around London.
Other potential rail and Tyne and Wear projects
The region has numerous abandoned rail lines, including old coal and steel transport railways that could similarly be resuscitated:
- A Tyne and Wear Metro extension as a loop in North Tyneside to serve the Silverlink and Cobalt business park. The North East Rail and Metro Strategy recognises these are “major growth engines of the local economy” with around 20,000 jobs, but notes that they are not close to any existing Metro stations. The old railway right of way that transported coal to the River Tyne could however be utilised to inexpensively create a loop service of the area.
- Re-opening the abandoned Stillington Line to the south of the Leamington Line from Belmont towards Shincliffe and beyond. However, no studies of a passenger rail service on this line has yet been undertaken.
However, residents of the Tyne and Wear region are well-used to heavily publicised plans to improve their public transport network, which fade away to nothing when financial realities hit home. Project Orpheus of 2003 proposed linking street-running tram-trains into the existing Metro network, as well as a cable car in Gateshead, both of which came to nought. The Metro Strategy 2030 published in 2014 included proposals for the Washington extension, alongside several others which remain mere lines on a map.
UPDATE: Department for Transport (DfT) has in the last few days announced that it will fund a replacement of the Tyne and Wear Metro's 1970s era safety critical train signalling system. This upgrade is critical for preventing a catastrophic accident, as well as to improve reliability and safety, operate more frequent trains, and enable future expansion of the network. The current signalling will be effectively life expired by 2030 – operating trains after that date could put the rail network at risk. DfT has not yet announced how much funding it will provide for the scheme, nor where the money will come from. North East transport leaders estimate that replacement of the Metro’s outdated signalling system will cost approximately £400 million. Given the recent investment into its new fleet of trains and the plan to extend the Metro to Washington, this is a timely and much needed addition to the Metro network for the future.
Reinstating the full Leamside Line
The North East Local Growth Plan includes a rejuvenation of the southern Leamside Line as well, with the map therein depicting potential stations south of Washington at Penshaw, Fencehouses, West Rainton, Belmont, and Shincliffe & Bowburn, then connecting to the East Coast Main Line at Ferryhill. It would bring direct rail connections into Newcastle and Sunderland for 100,000 people across Washington and South Durham, and unlock land to build 10,000 homes. The Local Growth Plan states that:
“It will seek to replicate the success of the Scottish Borders Railway connecting Edinburgh and Tweedbank, where passenger numbers are treble those first forecast and the project has increased business investment, footfall, boosting tourism and improved work and leisure opportunities.”
Durham Parkway (Belmont) would effectively adding a station to an existing Park and Ride car park on an A1M junction (near Belmont which gave its name to the junction) outside Durham with not a lot of local population. There is a larger population that would be served if a station were further south and thus better located for more people in East Durham.
The three stations between Ferryhill and Fencehouses would all all park and ride rather than local population orientated, as they are sited in locations that discourage walking or cycling to the station, away from residential populations and industrial sheds.
The Northumberland Line’s ridership of five times the predicted estimate will also feature in the region’s discussions with the government.
The Leamside Line had opened in 1838, but by the 1950s ridership was drying up with the general switch to cars. Passenger service ended in 1964. There was actually a railway station in Washington – the Beeching Report recommended its closure to passenger traffic, which was the first Beeching closure in the country.
The line was used for some diversions in 1989 due to electrification of the ECML between Newcastle and Darlington, and to avoid Durham major track remodelling. It was realised at the time that this was likely the swansong of the Leamside line. There was a clear intention to close it after that, as it would serve even less purpose going forward and would have cost considerable sums to maintain, which were needed elsewhere. Indeed, in the early 1990s the remaining industry on the Leamside Line closed – the Freightliner terminal at Follingsby in 1987, and an open-cast coal mine at Wardley. As a result, the line was mothballed by British Rail in 1992. Although the track junctions at each end of the line are intact and signalled, the track between has mostly been lifted, or stolen.
The plan estimates restoring the full line could provide new train links to 100,000 people and unlock the potential to build 10,000 homes, as well as replacing 1.7m car journeys and reduce carbon emissions by 87,000 tonnes.
In mid-2024 the government awarded Transport North East £350,000 to support the development of a strategic Outline Business Case for reopening the southern section of the Leamside Line, between Washington and Ferryhill, for passenger and freight trains.
With the June 4, 2025 government funding indication, Nexus, the region’s transport authority, announced Metro to Washington public engagement events throughout June, up to July 1. Nexus now estimates the scheme’s cost at £900m.
Relieving East Coast Main Line capacity
A reopened Leamside Line could also be used to divert some slower freight trains off the congested East Coast Main Line (ECML), which runs in parallel. The ECML currently only supports six trains an hour, which is greatly outstripped by the demand. The Durham Coast Line to the south already takes ECML diversions.
Transport North East appointed Arup at the end of May 2025 to develop the feasibility study for the Tyne and Wear Metro extension to Washington, which would use the northern section of the Leamside Line. This will include survey and infrastructure design for stations and bridges. Importantly, this study will take into account the Outline Business Case of the southern section of the Leamside Line.
The restored Leamside Line could potentially alleviate a long-standing bottleneck by allowing additional ECML services to run, benefiting the North East as well as train services along the breadth of the east of the country.
However, if the Leamside passenger line were to share with a frequent diversion of freight from ECML, there would be serious problems. Two features are especially important:
- Finding sufficient freight paths within an hourly high frequency passenger operation either implies a "hinkende takt", or extra infrastructure such as loops.
- It also increases performance risks substantially with delays arising from, for example, restarting stalled freight.
Furthermore, the railway timetable in Sunderland revolves around Sutton Loop and Catford Loop Thameslink services doing parallel moves across Blackfriars Junction (yes ~270miles to the south!), and partially on the single Thameslink platform at Wimbledon. As does the entire timetable on Teesside.
Even further afield, it is worth noting that the writing of the entire Great Britain railway timetable starts with working out movements at Blackfriars Junction. And in the past, delays at Aberdeen have been attributed to issues at Brighton, and consequently vice versa. The inter-dependence of main line flows was a standing joke in Network SouthEast days - completing the Channel Tunnel was seen as a serious performance risk as in "The 0823 to St Albans has been cancelled following a derailment in Skopje, North Macedonia the day before yesterday..."
As a result, this also affects the Tyne and Wear Metro as it shares tracks and platforms with NR services on the line to Sunderland. Hence the Metro needs more flexibility to route metro services into different places at different times south of the Tyne to address the Sunderland bottleneck and squeeze more out of the rest of the Metro network.
Furthermore, there are railway dependencies in the larger Tyne-Tees conurbation, which includes the cities on the River Tees further south, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar, and Saltburn, as well as Darlington as its southwest corner, on the ECML. As is usually the case with railways, it is much more complicated than the “lines on a map” that politicians and the public see.
What seems locally like a simple solution often has problems nearby and system wide. In the Leamside Line ECML diversion concept, the bigger problem is the two track section from Northallerton to Newcastle of ~47 miles and the current intercity vs diesel hauled freight speed differential.
In essence, the North East wants and is willing to pay for the Washington Metro Loop/Sunderland second route Phases 1 & 2. They also want Leamside Phase 3 south to Belmont, but don't have the finances to pay for it all, hence the plea for the ECML freight bypass. This Phase 3 could also help with other Metro/freight issues on the existing co-worked Sunderland branch. The resulting timetable would be "hinkende takt".
Swiss German timetabling language
Now for a slight trip to Switzerland, whose railways are renowned for their clockface frequences, or "takt". The "hinkende takt" means ‘hindmost slot’, a repeating timetable but with uneven service intervals. In practical terms it means it gets what’s left of line slots, running speed behind stopping trains, and therefore has the least claim on capacity.
Network Rail has its own priorities
We note that NR has numerous alternative, and in many cases easier, cheaper, and/or more effective solutions for freight in numerous areas of its network, which Leamside Phase 3 would be competing against. The other issue is that Leamside reopening would probably need to be 25kV AC or the freight won’t use it – just as well the new Metro stock is dual voltage capable.
Many North East (and other) city region Mayors would like to improve their local railway networks as part of the devolution of local transport provision, and they can fund some of it. However much of it requires improvements on NR infrastructure. But NR has its own priorities, trying to balance prioritising and funding that work with their other priorities. And of course there is ultimately the political angle, with the Government wanting improvements in as many constituencies as possible. Even if this means less coherent network improvements.
Any serious freight proposal to help ECML capacity and maybe enabling other flows will have to be accommodated during Metro planning, at least in broad outline and specification if not in full detail, which may also require some operational compromises.
As a result, using the Leamside line as a freight relief would clash with Metro aspirations. And diverting freight along the Leamside between Ferryhill and Newcastle is not the silver bullet that will magically solve the ECML capacity issues.
Other North East rail investment
One shouldn't get the impression that 'the North' has been completely deprived of improvements in recent years. Middlesbrough station south of Sunderland is still being improved at a cost of £34 million – a smaller second phase rebuild was re-announced at the start of June 2025, which had been put on hold during Covid. Darlington station has long had a sub-optimal track layout, but is finally being substantially improved with two new platforms.
Unheralded but on a truly massive scale is the Trans-Pennine Upgrade (TPU) a multi-billion pound project to revolutionise rail in the North East. Whilst overshadowed by HS2 and other higher profile schemes around the country, the TPU work is trodding on – an overview of the progress is provided by David Lawrance of the Permanent Way Institute (PWI).
Unfortunately, the rate of investment all over the UK’s rail network has been insufficient for decades, which means that every region has legitimate grounds to argue for funding. As the Northumberland Line, Borders Railway, and other line re-openings have demonstrated, railways can provide a step change increase in capacity and ridership.
Epilogue: Quirks and eccentricities
Wallsend station is next to the east end of Hadrian’s Wall, and the station's signage is bilingual, English and Latin, in tribute to its Roman transport origins. The Latin name for the station is Segedenum, which literally means "wall's end".
Newcastle Central station’s portico was recently converted from a taxi rank to an enclosed extension of the station, with additional waiting space, seating, and cafes.
Many thanks to Paul LF’s help and the Edificity YouTube channel, as well as the grey beards at the LR Towers.
