Newcastle Central Station is a underground station

Metro station

A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, often known by names such as "metro", "underground" and "subway". It is often underground or elevated. At crossings of metro lines, they are multi-level....

 on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Tyne and Wear Metro

The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...

 in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located below Newcastle railway station

Newcastle railway station

Newcastle railway station , is the mainline station of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building...

, from which the Metro station gets its name. There are entrances to it from both inside and outside the main line station. The station sees five million passengers a year, making is the third busiest on the network after Monument

Monument Metro station

Monument is a principal station on the underground section of the Tyne and Wear Metro system and is used by almost 6 million passengers per year. It is named after Grey's Monument, which stands directly above the station...

 and Haymarket

Haymarket Metro station

Haymarket Metro station is a station on the Tyne and Wear Metro in the north of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. Like the other stations in the city centre, its platforms are located underground...

.

Metro services from this station replaced some routes that had formerly been operated from the mainline station towards Benton

Benton Metro station

Benton Metro station is on the Tyne and Wear Metro Yellow line between Four Lane Ends and Palmersville. The railway station serves Benton in North Tyneside, just north of Newcastle upon Tyne, England....

 and Tynemouth

Tynemouth Metro station

Tynemouth Metro station is one of the oldest stations on the Tyne and Wear Metro network. The railway station was opened in 1882 by the North Eastern Railway and is now a Grade II* listed building...

 via the North Tyneside Loop

North Tyneside Loop

The North Tyneside Loop refers to the railway lines in North Tyneside from Newcastle upon Tyne via Wallsend, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Backworth, Benton and South Gosforth back to Newcastle...

. In 1984 Metro reached South Shields Metro station

South Shields Metro station

South Shields Metro station is the main Tyne and Wear Metro station for South Shields, England. In 2008-9 the station was used by over 1 million passengers. The station is located on a bridge above King Street, the main shopping street in South Shields Town Centre...

 replacing British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 train services to South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

. In 2002 Metro commenced services to Sunderland and South Hylton

South Hylton Metro station

South Hylton Metro station serves the suburb of South Hylton on the banks of the River Wear. The station opened as part of the Sunderland extension in 2002...

, sharing tracks with Northern Rail

Northern Rail

Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...

 services on the Durham Coast Line

Durham Coast Line

The Durham Coast Line is the name given to the railway line which links Newcastle upon Tyne with Middlesbrough, via Sunderland and Hartlepool...

 between Pelaw

Pelaw Metro station

Pelaw Metro station serves the Pelaw area of Gateshead, England. Situated on the Tyne and Wear Metro system, it is at the point where the Yellow and Green lines diverge, with the former continuing to South Shields and the latter over tracks shared with mainline trains to Sunderland and then...

 and Sunderland.

Plans

Tyne and Wear Metro are planning to refurbish Central Station Metro to a design similar to Haymarket Metro station

Haymarket Metro station

Haymarket Metro station is a station on the Tyne and Wear Metro in the north of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. Like the other stations in the city centre, its platforms are located underground...

 by 2012.

External links

• Train times and station information for from Nexus
  Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive
  The Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive using the brandname of Nexus, is the Passenger Transport Executive for the Tyne and Wear region of North East England....