Hopes of opening a raft of new railway and Metro lines across the North East have been branded “pie in the sky”.
A vision to radically upgrade the region’s public transport infrastructure by 2035, most notably through eight train line extensions across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, and County Durham, is due to be adopted by council leaders next week. Those proposals include the long-awaited reopening of the Leamside Line, extending the Tyne and Wear Metro to new areas including Washington, and a new East Coast Main Line link to Newcastle International Airport.
But turning any of those plans into reality would require major government investment and it is thought that the eight extension proposals would cost in the region of £2.5bn. The new Rail and Metro Strategy, which will come before the North East Joint Transport Committee (JTC) next Tuesday, has been met with scorn from Newcastle’s Liberal Democrat opposition, coming at a time when local bus services are being slashed and there are serious fears about the long-term funding of the Metro.
