Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 19, 2007

The Tyne and Wear Metro (known simply as the Metro) is a light rail metro system based around Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. The network opened in 1980, and in 2005-2006 provided 36.6 million public journeys on its 77.5 km route. It is operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (TWPTE) operating as Nexus. Nexus also operates a passenger ferry service at the mouth of the River Tyne between North Shields and South Shields, and several bus services around the Tyne and Wear area. The Metro is usually described as Britain's first modern light rail system. However, it can be considered a hybrid system, displaying elements of light rail, heavy underground metro, and longer-distance, higher speed suburban and interurban railway systems. The Metro alignment comprises most of two of the world's oldest passenger railways, the Newcastle & North Shields Railway (Metro between Chillingham Road and North Shields) and the Brandling Junction Railway (between Gateshead and Monkwearmouth, near the Stadium of Light); both opened in 1839, making the Metro arguably one of the world's oldest local rail transport systems.