Tyne & Wear Studies Hybrid Tram - Trains. (Rapid Transit Review).

Advances in technology since the Tyne & Wear light metro opened in 1980 have opened up the possibility of hybrid tram-trains serving hitherto inaccessible areas of the region with street running vehicles connected to the existing metro network.

THE spur to the development was the government's 10-year plan last July, which promised 25 new rapid transit lines in Britain and a doubling of light rail usage. This prompted the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive, Nexus, to press ahead with more expansion plans.

The system has operated for two decades on a c