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The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving the metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear).

The network opened in stages from August 1980 and now serves a total of 60 stations, with two lines covering 48.2 miles (77.6 km) of track.

In the early 1970s, the poor local transport system was identified as one of the main factors holding back the region's economy, and in 1971 a study was commissioned by the recently created Tyneside Passenger Transport Authority (now known as Nexus) into how the transport system could be improved. This study recommended reviving the badly run-down former Tyneside Electrics network by converting it into an electrified rapid transit system, which would include a new underground section to better serve the busy central areas of Newcastle and Gateshead.

The plans were approved by the Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Bill, which was passed by Parliament in July 1973.

Three railway lines, totalling 26 miles (42 km) were to be converted into Metro lines as part of the initial system – these being the North Tyneside Loop and Newcastle to South Shields branch (both of which were formerly part of the Tyneside Electrics network), and a short stretch of the freight-only Ponteland Railway between South Gosforth and Bank Foot, which had not seen any passenger traffic since 1929.

Construction work began in October 1974. This involved the construction of the new infrastructure, re-electrifying the routes with overhead line equipment, the upgrading or relocation of existing stations, and the construction of several new stations, some of which were underground. By 1984, the final cost of the project was £265 million (equivalent to £871 million in 2022).

The initial network opened August 7th 1980. The following year Queen Elizabeth II visited Tyneside and officially opened the Newcastle to Gateshead route. In 1984 the Heworth to South Shields line was completed. Two more stations were added in 1985, Kingston Park was officially opened on the 15th of September and Pelaw was opened the following day on the 16th.
Further extensions to the original network were opened in November 1991 (from Bank Foot to Airport) and March 2002 (from Pelaw to Sunderland and South Hylton).

Credits: John Woodvine (Narrator)
Organisations:
Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive
Tyne & Wear County Council
Promotional film made by Turners Film and Video Productions