Nexus announces plans for "essential" weekend work on Tyne and Wear Metro system

Nexus, the public body which runs Metro, needs to replace a key section of overhead line equipment in the tunnel between Monument and Haymarket.

During the works buses will replace trains South Gosforth to South Shields the last Metro services in the affected areas will run off between 9pm and 10pm.

Customers are advised to plan ahead and leave extra time to complete their journeys. Replacement bus services will be running in the affected areas.

The location of the work site in the Metro tunnels means that a wider area of line closure is required.

The works are essential and need to be carried out as soon as practically possible. They have been packed into a Sunday evening to ensure the least amount of disruption as possible, with Metro generally seeing lower customer numbers on Sunday evenings compared to other days of the week.

Metro services will continue to operate from South Gosforth to Airport, and to St James via the North Tyneside coast on Sunday, but may not be to the usual timetable.

Stuart Clarke, Infrastructure Director at Nexus, said: “Customers are advised to plan ahead and be aware of the planned Metro line closures from 9pm on Sunday night, 18 May.

“Buses will be replacing trains over a wide area of the Metro system, from South Gosforth to South Shields and South Gosforth to South Hylton.

“This is so that we can carry out urgent and essential preventative maintenance work on a section of overhead line equipment in our tunnels beneath Newcastle.

“The scale of the works that we need to undertake is such that we can’t pack it all into a night shift and will require the early evening closure. We’ve scheduled these works for a Sunday night so that it affects as few customers as possible. We’re sorry for any inconvenience it causes.

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“A frequent replacement bus service will be running from Regent Centre interchange. The buses will operate from there down to South Shields and South Hylton. Please allow extra time if you’re travelling through the affected areas.”

The replacement bus service will be running in both directions from Regent Centre in Newcastle. The 900 will run down to South Shields and the 901 will run down to South Hylton. Both services will call at or near all Meto stations on their respective routes.

This work is seperate to the planned works which will impact trains between Pelaw and South Hylton on the morning of Sunday, May 11 and the four day line closure at the end of the month.

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