A Metro line is to be closed after 9pm on mid-week evenings on eight nights this month in order to carry out important modernisation work.
Nexus which owns, manages and is modernising Metro, is trialling the late evening closures because they will affect fewer passengers than weekend closures.
The first phase of works will happen over four nights, from Monday 12 March until Thursday 15 March, with no trains running after 9pm between Benton and Monkseaton stations.
A replacement bus, service 900, will run from Four Lane Ends interchange to Monkseaton, stopping at all stations. Passengers are advised to change between Metro and bus at Four Lane Ends rather than Benton.
The second phase takes place from Monday 19 March until Thursday 22 March, with no trains running after 9pm between South Gosforth and Benton stations.
A replacement bus, service 900, will run from Regent Centre via South Gosforth to Benton and on to Palmersville and Northumberland Park, letting passengers board and leave the bus at the most convenient point for them.
The line closures will allow Nexus to renew track equipment as part of the £385m Metro: all change modernisation programme, which will see the network transformed over 11 years.
Director of Rail and Infrastructure for Nexus, Ken Mackay, said: “We are packing as much modernisation work in this year as we can and midweek evening closures will help us to achieve that.
“There are fewer people travelling on Metro after 9pm early in the week, so this is a good time to close lines. I apologise if anyone is inconvenienced. We will still need weekend closures because of the scale of the task we have set ourselves, but this cuts down the number.
“There is an enormous amount of modernisation work taking place on Metro and much of it has to be done when trains are not running. Passengers will gain in the long term with a brighter, cleaner and vastly improved Metro service.”
Passengers can keep in touch with work which may affect their journey through the website nexus.org.uk, and My_Metro pages on Twitter and Facebook. Call the Nexus Customer service centre on 0191 20 20 747.
Nexus has also kept local employers informed of its plans to reduce the impact on shift changes and other work patterns.