page_title: Transport in Tyne and Wear
section_title: National Rail
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in Tyne and Wear / Rail / National Rail
caption_attribution_description: The northern end of Newcastle central railway station.
context_page_description: Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan area covering the cities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, as well as North and South Tyneside, Gateshead and Washington.
  Tyne and Wear is well served by public transport, with the Tyne and Wear Metro, an extensive bus and rail network, the Shields Ferry, and Newcastle International Airport.
  Nexus are the Passenger Transport Executive responsible for overseeing the public transport network within Tyne and Wear, with headquarters at Nexus House in Newcastle upon Tyne.
context_section_description: There are currently seven rail stations located within Tyne and Wear, these being: Blaydon, Dunston, Heworth, Manors, Metrocentre, Newcastle Central and Sunderland.
  Newcastle Central is a key calling point on the East Coast Main Line. The station originally opened in August 1850, as part of the then Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway.
  Nowadays, the station is served by CrossCountry, LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express, with trains running to a range of destinations across the country.
  CrossCountry run long-distance, high-speed rail services connecting Scotland and the North East with the Midlands, South East and the South Coast. As of the December 2019 timetable change, service and frequency is as follows:
  Two trains per hour heading south along the East Coast Main Line towards York, Sheffield and Birmingham New Street, with trains then continuing on to destinations including Bournemouth, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff Central, Oxford, Reading, Penzance and Plymouth.
  An hourly service heading north along the East Coast Main Line towards Edinburgh Waverley, with a two-hourly service continuing on to Glasgow Central. Some trains further continue to Aberdeen or Dundee.
  London North Eastern Railway provide long-distance, high-speed rail services, connecting Scotland and the North East with London. As of the December 2019 timetable change, service and frequency is as follows:
  Two trains per hour running north along the East Coast Main Line towards Edinburgh Waverley, with some trains continuing on to Aberdeen, Glasgow Central, Inverness or Stirling.
  Two trains per hour heading south along the East Coast Main Line towards York and London King's Cross.
  Northern operates local rail services across the North East. As of the December 2019 timetable change, service and frequency is as follows:
  An hourly service heading north along the East Coast Main Line to Morpeth, with two trains per day continuing on to Chathill.
  An hourly service heading south along the Durham Coast Line towards Sunderland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe, with some trains continuing on to Whitby.
  Three trains per hour heading west along the Tyne Valley Line towards Hexham, with two trains per hour continuing on to Carlisle.
  TransPennine Express links the North East with Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool. As of the December 2019 timetable change, service and frequency is as follows:
  An hourly service heading north along the East Coast Main Line towards Edinburgh Waverley.
  Two trains per hour heading south along the East Coast Main Line towards York, Leeds and Manchester Victoria, with an alternating hourly service continuing on to Liverpool Lime Street or Manchester Airport.
  Sunderland (then Sunderland Central) station opened in August 1879, under the then North Eastern Railway.
  Nowadays the station is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro, with local rail services operated by Northern. The station is also served by less frequent, long-distance rail services, operated by Grand Central and LNER.
  Northern provide an hourly service heading south along the Durham Coast Line towards Sunderland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe (with some trains continuing on to Whitby), and an hourly service heading north to Newcastle, with trains then joining the Tyne Valley Line, continuing on towards Hexham.
  In March 2002, following the extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro from Pelaw to Sunderland and South Hylton, rail services between Sunderland and Newcastle were amended, with Heworth becoming the single intermediate station on the route between the two cities.
  Former rail stations at Seaburn, East Boldon and Brockley Whins (as well as new purpose-built stations at St. Peter's, Stadium of Light and Fellgate) are now served by the Tyne and Wear Metro, with a frequency of up to five trains per hour, and a direct link to Newcastle Airport.
  In January 2006, new open-access operator Grand Central (now owned by Arriva) was granted permission to run four trains per day between Sunderland and London King's Cross. Service commenced i
caption: An aerial view of Newcastle Central Station.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.0.2", "Image DateTime": "2005:09:29 21:03:46", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.3.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "202", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4671", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1544", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1024"}