MetroCentre is a railway station on the Tyne Valley Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated west of Newcastle, serves Metrocentre,

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

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 is owned by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and managed by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

History

The station was opened on 3 August 1987 by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

, and was initially named ''Gateshead MetroCentre''. The station's name was later shortened to ''MetroCentre'' on 17 May 1993. The station is situated on a section of line built by the North Eastern Railway, which was constructed in sections between 1893 and 1909. It linked the lines over the newly commissioned

King Edward VII Bridge The King Edward VII Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the River Tyne between Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, in North East England. It is a Grade II listed structure. The King Edward VII bridge has been described as “Britain’s last ...

with the original

Newcastle and Carlisle Railway The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (N&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west coast. The railway began operating mineral trains in 1834 between ...

freight route to Redheugh and Dunston Coal Staiths, dating back to 1837.

Refurbishment

Between January and February 2020, the platforms at the station were extended ahead of the introduction of upgraded rolling stock, as part of the Great North Rail project.

Facilities

The station has two platforms, both of which have seating, a waiting shelter, next train audio and visual displays and an emergency help point. There is a footbridge linking the station with the Metrocentre, which provides step-free access to both platforms. MetroCentre has recently joined the Northern Trains

penalty fare A penalty fare, standard fare, or fixed penalty notice is a special, usually higher, fare charged because a passenger using public transport did not comply with the normal ticket purchasing rules. It should not be confused with an unpaid fares n ...

network, as new ticket machines were installed at the station in December 2020.

Services

As of the December 2021 timetable change, there are three trains per hour between and , two of which continue to . On Sunday, there are three trains per hour between Newcastle and MetroCentre, one of which continues to Carlisle. Most trains extend to or via . All services are operated by

. Rolling stock used: Class 156 ''Super Sprinter'' and Class 158 ''Express Sprinter''

References

External links

* {{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Railway stations in Tyne and Wear Railway stations opened by British Rail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1987 Northern franchise railway stations