Benton is a

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

station, serving the suburb of Benton,

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

, England. It joined the network on 11 August 1980, following the opening of the first phase of the network, between Haymarket and Tynemouth via Four Lane Ends.

History

The station originally opened on 27 June 1864 under the Blyth and Tyne Railway. It was resited on 1 March 1871 by the North Eastern Railway. Following closure for conversion in the late 1970s, the original station building on the westbound platform was retained, and now serves as a private residence. Prior to the network's extension to

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunderl ...

in March 2002, Benton was a

terminus station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

of the former Red Line, which operated between Pelaw and Benton. The station still serves as a terminus for Yellow Line trains from Pelaw during peak hours. However, following the opening of Northumberland Park in December 2005, many of these trains now continue to

Monkseaton Monkseaton is an area of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, in the North East of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is in the north-east of the borough, from the North Sea coast and north of the River Tyne at North Shields. to the north of ...

. The station was used by 348,120 passengers in 2017–18.

Facilities

Step-free access is available at all stations across the Tyne and Wear Metro network, with ramped access to platforms. Two lifts, which were installed in 2011, provide step-free access over the footbridge between platforms. The station is equipped with ticket machines, waiting shelter, seating, next train information displays, timetable posters, and an emergency help point on both platforms. Ticket machines are able to accept payment with credit and debit card (including

contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC, e.g. Samsung ...

), notes and coins. The station is also fitted with smartcard validators, which feature at all stations across the network. A small free car park is available, with ten spaces, plus two accessible spaces. There is also the provision for cycle parking, with five cycle pods available for use.

Services

, the station is served by up to five trains per hour on weekdays and Saturday, and up to four trains per hour during the evening and on Sunday. Additional services operate between and Benton or at peak times. Rolling stock used: Class 599 ''Metrocar''

References

External links

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Timetable and station information
for Benton {{DEFAULTSORT:Benton Metro station Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside 1871 establishments in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1871 1980 establishments in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1980 Tyne and Wear Metro Yellow line stations Transport in Tyne and Wear Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations __NOTOC__