Washington locals react to Tyne and Wear Metro extension

BBC News

3 days ago

As the prospect of Tyne and Wear Metro trains cutting through Washington takes a significant step forward, those on its doorstep are cautiously optimistic about political promises becoming a rail reality.North East Mayor Kim McGuinness recently announced funding to repurpose part of the mothballed Leamside Line into an extension to the Metro. The bill? About £900m.Linking up from Pelaw in Gateshead to South Hylton in Sunderland, Metro trains could one day be making their way past Follingsby Park and into two yet unplaced stations provisionally known as Washington North and South, creating the "Washington Loop".
"It'll be a good thing... if it happens," Graham Horn tells me at his home on Barmston Close, overlooking a former railway bridge now overcome with vegetation but which could be put back to use by 2033.He has lived in the town for 63 years and proudly says he is a "Washington man".He remembers the closure of the Leamside Line in 1964 which, by that point, was "only really coal trains and the odd train before the line was closed down".
Elsewhere on the street, and in the shadow of the old line, Laura Patton has lived here for 22 years.She admits she is not put off by the thought of trains once again passing her home."It's a good thing because there's a lot of people missed having the Metro come through Washington," she said."It'll get used a lot."Another resident tells me she hopes it is a "great success", but seems hesitant to show much excitement, adding: "They've talked about it for a long time but nothing has ever happened. Hopefully it will this time."
About 1.6 miles (2.5km) away, the WWT Washington Wetland is home to 57 flamingos, two otters named Buster and Musa and a whole host of other animals. But visitors are having to use two or three buses to get there, unless they drive.It is worse for some volunteers who travel from as far as north Newcastle. Gill Pipes, who runs the charity-operated reserve which has just celebrated its 50th anniversary, said of the extension: "It really is essential."Washington is a huge town, one of the biggest in the UK, and to not have a rail network or Metro, it's quite prohibitive."The fact that people will be able to use the train, and then the Metro, that's going to be amazing."
Sunderland Conservatives previously raised concern over the "high cost" to extend the Metro comparing it with the lower cost of £298m to reopen the Northumberland line to Ashington.But Labour's McGuinness said the investment had been secured after talks with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.Studies are now under way to determine how the new Metro route will work in practice, alongside design work for the three new stations, bridges and numerous additional infrastructure.
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