Trams closer for Tyne and Wear

Trams are at the centre of a 15-year transport plan

Nine routes on a proposed tram system for Tyne and Wear are to be considered by the local transport authority.

Members of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, will examine proposals from Nexus, which runs the local Metro system.

The tram plan, known as Project Orpheus, is the centrepiece of Nexus's 15-year plan for public transport in the region.

New tram cars will use existing Metro tracks and platforms, but will also run on normal roads.

Proposed tram routes

Four Lane Ends to Killingworth/Cramlington

Central Newcastle-Denton to Walbottle and/or MetroCentre

Central Newcastle-Walker

Gateshead to MetroCentre

Gateshead to Team Valley

Gateshead to Washington via Wrekenton

South Shields to Sunderland via Boldon

Sunderland to Ryhope via Doxford Park

Sunderland to Seaham via Coast

Danny Marshall, chairman of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, said: "It is our ambition to put half of Tyne and Wear residents within a few hundred metres of a viable public transport link into Metro.

"Project Orpheus is a key part of the vision - using modern trams it will provide new links to the quality of the current Metro."

If PTA members ratify the proposal it will mark the beginning of a programme of designing routes, and consulting with relevant local authorities.

A total of 29 possible routes were identified as candidates for early appraisal.

But some were rejected as unsuitable for the tram-style vehicles likely to be introduced in the extension to the existing Tyne and Wear Metro system.

It is anticipated that the first trams could be running as early as 2008.