Hughes sets sights on a rail revolution in the North East

With funding secured for a new fleet of Tyne and Wear Metro trains, the North East is turning its attention to how the area’s Metro and passenger rail network can be expanded. Tobyn Hughes, the North East Combined Authority’s managing director (transport operations), spoke to Andrew Forster

16 March 2018

Tobyn Hughes

Possible rail and Metro network extensions, as outlined in Nexus’ Metro and local rail strategy of 2016

The age of the Metrocars (above) is taking its toll on reliability, says Hughes. A procurement of new stock (inset) is underway. The map shows the Metro network

Possible rail and Metro network extensions, as outlined in Nexus’ Metro and local rail strategy of 2016

It’s almost 40 years ago that Tyne and Wear set the pace for urban rail transport in Britain, with the opening of the Tyne and Wear Metro in 1980. Combining converted British Rail lines and some new build track, the Metro was an advert for the strong metropolitan governance provided by the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County Council and the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (PTE). Other metropolitan areas tried to follow Tyne and Wear’s lead with rail-based rapid transit...