Howdon depot is a light rail facility used by the

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 ...

Howdon Howdon is a largely residential area in the eastern part of Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. It consists of High Howdon and the smaller settlement of East Howdon. Much of the High Howdon area was formerly called Willington prior to post-World W ...

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. The depot was built as a satellite depot of South Gosforth depot, which is being refurbished between 2020 and 2024. Construction on Howdon Depot completed in August 2020, with the first train entering in November 2020. The original intention was for Howdon to be a temporary depot, but future upgrades to the South Shields line, may mean the depot becomes permanent.

History

Howdon depot was built on a former landfill site in Howdon, North Tyneside. The new depot was built as part of a £362 million package which includes a new fleet of metrocars which will be partly commissioned at Howdon. The new depot has the capacity to house 25% of the current metrocar fleet, which allows for a continuing service whilst the main depot at South Gosforth is upgraded. Although the groundbreaking ceremony was in June 2019, the main construction phase on the facility was started in late 2019, with opening expected in July 2020, though this slipped until October 2020, when work at Gosforth depot started. The depot, which is built on the former

Riverside Branch The Riverside Branch was a double-track branch line, which ran between Riverside Junction in Heaton and Percy Main West Junction in Percy Main. The line opened in May 1879, later being electrified in 1904, as part of the Tyneside Electric ...

(closed in 1973 and converted into a landfill site at Howdon) is equipped with ten storage roads. Howdon is to be capable of accepting, and assembling, the new fleet (to be built by Stadler), although this work could also be concentrated at South Gosforth, or shared between the two sites. Howdon has a maintenance shed with a single road and a pit underneath, and one shunt road adjacent to the mainline. The depot at Howdon was conceived as a temporary solution whilst South Gosforth is upgraded. However, Nexus received £100 million from the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

as part of its Transforming Cities Fund in 2020, which will go to the Metro Flow project. If approved, this will mean the doubling of many single sections of track on the South Shields line and at Pelaw,

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...

, Bede and Jarrow stations. If this does occur, then the depot at Howdon will become permanent.

References

External links

* {{Tyne and Wear Metro network Railway depots in England Transport infrastructure completed in 2020 Tyne and Wear Metro 2020 establishments in England