Four Lane Ends 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 suburbs of Benton and

Longbenton Longbenton is a district of North Tyneside, England. It is largely occupied by an extensive estate originally built as municipal housing by Newcastle City Council in the 1930s and extended in the 1950s. It is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro st ...

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 b ...

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, Newcastl ...

, England. It joined the network on 11 August 1980, following the opening of the first phase of the network, between

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

and

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon T ...

via Four Lane Ends.

History

The station is located at the junction of Benton Lane ( A188), Benton Park Road ( A191) and Front Street ( A191). The crossroads has historically been important for traders,

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

drivers, and those transporting local

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

s and

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

towards the

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

s and

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

in Newcastle. Nearby employment sites include

Benton Park View Benton Park View, located in Benton, a suburb of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, is a multi-agency site of the UK Government. The complex is one of the largest secure civilian government complexes in Europe. The site is owned by ...

to the west,

Tyneview Park Tyneview Park is a large government office site in Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Tyneview Park is home to many departments of The Pension Service, a sector of the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC. Site Built in the early 1990 ...

to the south east, and

Quorum Business Park Quorum Park is a speculative office development in North Tyneside, North East England, with about 1 million square feet of office space. Overview Quorum was part of the North Tyneside Enterprise Zone that ran from 1996 to 2006. The site was o ...

to the north. Unlike neighbouring

and Benton, Four Lane Ends was purpose-built for the

network. These purpose-built stations, such as Four Lane Ends, Heworth and

Regent Centre Regent Centre is a large business park in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The business park is home to a variety of companies, including banking group Virgin Money whose Head Office is located on the site. The centre has its own transport ...

, had a definite corporate look of rectangular blocks, light enamelled wall panels, and black roofing. The station is situated at the site of the first Longbenton station, which opened in 1864 and closed at the start of 1871 – being replaced by Benton. The last remains of this station disappeared following the construction of Four Lane Ends in the late 1970s. Four Lane Ends houses two art installations, both of which were commissioned in the early 2000s. Andrew Stonyer's ''Pulse'' (2000) features in the station's courtyard, adjacent to the ticket concourse, and consists of a diameter corten steel ring, with a circle of bright neon red. Cath Campbell's ''Detour'' (2003) features on the south and west elevations of the station's multi-storey car park, creating an "animated" and "dynamic" surface, describing movement and journeys through space.

Facilities

Step-free access is available at all stations across the Tyne and Wear Metro network, with two lifts providing step-free access to platforms at Four Lane Ends. As part of the ''Metro: All Change'' programme, new lifts were installed at Four Lane Ends in 2012, with new escalators installed in 2015. The station is equipped with ticket machines, 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. Samsun ...

), notes and coins. The station is also fitted with smartcard validators, which feature at all stations across the network. The station houses a small number of shops and services. A

Nexus NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and Border control#Expedited border controls, expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members ...

TravelShop also operated at the station until 2014. A large multi-storey pay and display car park is available, with 457 spaces plus 22 accessible spaces, as well as a taxi rank. There is also the provision for cycle parking, with five cycle pods, five cycle lockers, and 18 cycle spaces available for use. A bus interchange is also available at the station, providing frequent connections in and around

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and

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 or at peak times. Rolling stock used: Class 599 ''Metrocar''

Bus Station

The bus station is located above the

station. It is served by

Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United K ...

Go North East Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The compa ...

and Stagecoach in Newcastle's local bus services, with frequent routes serving

and

. The bus station has seven departure stands (lettered A–G), each of which is fitted with seating, next bus information displays, and timetable posters. The interchange was redeveloped in 2004, to include a 475 space

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

, as well as improved passenger facilities.

References

External links

*
Timetable and station information
for Four Lane Ends {{DEFAULTSORT:Four Lane Ends Metro station Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside 1980 establishments in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1980 Tyne and Wear Metro Yellow line stations Transport in Tyne and Wear Bus stations in Tyne and Wear