McGuinness cues up £8.6m Metro expansion

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has vowed to expand the Metro to Washington, also calling on government to reopen the full Leamside Line, long a transport aim for the region.

A report will be presented to the North East Combined Authority’s cabinet in late July in which £8.6m is recommended to be allocated to develop business cases for the Leamside Line – including the Metro extension to Washington – part of a string of new investments in transport.

The northern section of the Leamside Line would be used to create the new extension to the Metro – known locally as the ‘Washington Metro Loop’.

Widely regarded as a critical missing piece of the regional transport jigsaw, the Leamside Line’s reopening has unified support from local communities, cross-party politicians and the business community, but remains unfunded.

The scheme had been tentatively floated as one of Rishi Sunak’s theoretical list of projects that could be funded in lieu of HS2, but swiftly disappeared from the list of potential projects.

Now, McGuinness has declared it a top priority. She said: “I pledged in my manifesto to bring the Metro to Washington and that’s exactly what we will do. It’s clear to see that re-opening the Leamside Line will allow us to reconnect our isolated communities to the Metro and local rail network which will be transformative for local people.

“For too long we’ve been held back by a lack of national funding to kick start our infrastructure. That won’t happen under my watch. We want to build the greenest and best-connected transport network in the UK so it’s time to get to work.”

Establishing the business case will only be the start for a project that could reasonably be estimated as a £1bn-plus programme. However, a start it is.

The reopening of the Leamside Line is being planned in three phases:

• Washington Metro Loop – using the northern section of the Leamside Line to bring the Metro from Gateshead to Washington, connecting with South Hylton, the network’s current endpoint
• Leamside South – the southern section of the line connecting Washington and Sunderland to the East Coast Main Line rail link
• Ferryhill station in County Durham – which would connect on to Teesside.

Subject to cabinet approval, £8m will be used to develop an outline business case for the Washington Metro Loop, a piece of work that will provide full information on proposed stops and stations, economic impact data and estimated costings. The business case is being prepared by Nexus and will be completed by spring 2026.

Alongside this, a further £600,000 will be used to commission a strategic outline case for the Leamside South phase.

According to the Combined Authority, the Washington Metro Loop alone could generate at least £90m per year in economic benefits for the region, replacing 1.7m car journeys a year and reducing carbon emissions by 87,000 tonnes annually.

Leamside South, which runs in parallel to the East Coast Main Line, was previously used as a diversionary route for the ECML and there are hopes that it would do so again if reopened, removing slow moving freight trains from the congested national link and therefore freeing up capacity.

Discontinued for passenger transport in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts, the Leamside Line is 21 miles long and runs through the County Durham coalfields.

McGuinness added: “It’s been 60 years since passenger services stopped running on the Leamside Line and we can’t wait 60 more before our communities get the connections they desperately need.

“We will get to work on the detailed business cases for Leamside Line projects, while I continue to press for funding, both national and local.

“Reopening the Line will allow us to extend the Metro to Washington – the fourth largest town in the UK without a direct rail line – and to connect communities with poor public transport links like Fencehouses in Tyne & Wear and Ferryhill in County Durham.”

McGuinness concluded: “Walking along the line today you get a real feel for its potential – with stops, stations and park & ride sites in the future connecting even more of our communities to major employment sites and education and training opportunities.

“High quality integrated transport is a priority for me and I’ll make sure we fund the first stage locally to get this moving at speed.”

As noted by Cllr Martin Gannon, Gateshead Council’s Leader and NECA cabinet member for transport, this is the largest funding award to date for the Leamside Line project.

Cllr Gannon added: “We are determined to deliver this major strategic priority for the region. The Mayor will fight for our region to secure the funding we desperately need to re-open the Leamside Line and I look forward to supporting her on this vital project.”

Cathy Massarella, managing director at Nexus, said: “The Washington Metro Loop will be truly transformative, enhancing access to employment opportunities, education, healthcare and leisure activities for the people of Washington. This funding will enable Nexus to develop a detailed business case and marks a really positive step forward in the project.”