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Washington was built round the car, I can’t see how you could practically shoehorn a metro line through any other route?It’s a disgrace a town the size of Washington doesn’t have the metro.
That’s probably cost prohibitive...it would have to take a massive detour to avoid being a bit tokenistic
Washington was built round the car, I can’t see how you could practically shoehorn a metro line through any other route?
That’s probably cost prohibitive...
It’s a disgrace a town the size of Washington doesn’t have the metro.
is there any empirical evidence to back that up? its a claim i've seen against the sunderland extension quite a bit, but im wonder if its just hearsay & conjecture?The metro is an efficient way to drain shoppers out of surrounding towns in favour of Newcastle.
This, be cheaper to build a new line from scratch nowWas a thread on it before Christmas, love owt to do with the leamside line but I’ll say now what I said then. The leamside line will never reopen. Whether that be as a main line, freight or metro, it won’t reopen.
But they’ll continue to out stuff like this out.
is there any empirical evidence to back that up? its a claim i've seen against the sunderland extension quite a bit, but im wonder if its just hearsay & conjecture?
i agree but it might also be a blessing it doesn’t. The metro is an efficient way to drain shoppers out of surrounding towns in favour of Newcastle. Struggling towns around the region need to be looking at retaining trade in the centres not encouraging it out
i don’t want to shop in Washington. I want to shop, drink, eat in Newcastle without paying £30 in taxi fares and I want to be able to get to the match via metro not drive or bus so I can have a drink before and after the games..... (I’m just thinking about the drink really aren’t I )
It’s fairly evident tbh, they wouldn’t have invested in the metro if it wasn’t getting used. I’ve talked to people in places like South Shields and Whitley bay who says the same thing.....the towns were more bustling before the metro came along.
Is the metro used a lot for shopping and drinking purposes or mainly commuting for work?
I guess there is a correlation between location of businesses and possible consolidation which in turn has impacted upon retail and food and beverage.
I think there is another factor in that social mobility is different now. When I was younger we used to always drink in Sunderland mainly due to cost, but gradually migrated to Newcastle particularly when city centre declined. A night out in Newcastle (quayside) was always seen as a bit of a big event but gradually became the norm. Must admit we rarely used the metro for that purpose.
All three in varying combinations......... I get there's always going to be social mobility and aspiration but this is more about stopping the region overall having declining high streets.
I wouldnt argue that the likes of shields or whitley bay arent "bustling" when compared to a pre-80s era, but both those examples & sunderland were served by heavy rail long before it changed to light rail. personally i don't think its fairly evident that light rail contributed 100%, in shields bus use is down massively compared to the pre-80s era and that's not the fault of the metro.It’s fairly evident tbh, they wouldn’t have invested in the metro if it wasn’t getting used. I’ve talked to people in places like South Shields and Whitley bay who says the same thing.....the towns were more bustling before the metro came along.
it's never going to happen sadly.
My son works for Network Rail at NR HQ, all he will say is that there are definite plans to reopen it.
reality will be in the middle, plans are firmly made, money is not forthcoming, nothing happens, repeat in 10 years time.Love the SMB like....
Thats the whole idea. Having this line open would free up space for high speed inter city trains. They presently have to slow down due to slow goods trains hogging the present line, which is only double track.