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Survey work for the Simonside Metro station on South Tyneside gets underway on Monday (November 20th), with the contractors on-site for ten days ahead of the project's full start date in the New Year. Balfour Beatty, who were awarded the Simonside contract after a process of competitive tendering, will be working on the site during the night, while Metro services are not running, and on land adjacent to the site during the day. Construction of the £3m station will start fully in the New Year and will be completed before end of 2007. Director of Rail and Infrastructure for Nexus, Ken Mackay, said: “This is a very exciting project for South Tyneside and it’s a landmark for the Metro as well, because this station will be the 60th to open on our network in our proud 26 year history. “The station will serve the community in South Tyneside for decades to come and will prove a real asset to the local area.” The £3 million station at Simonside will be the 60th to open on the Metro system. It will be situated on the existing Metro line between Newcastle Road and Wenlock Road. Planning consent was granted by South Tyneside Council after Nexus held an extensive consultation with residents into the merits of the scheme. The station will feature a full range of security measures, including a digital CCTV camera network, and disabled access. It forms the first part of ambitious plans for the future of Metro in South Tyneside put together by Nexus, which is seeking £500m to modernised the system over 20 years. The project is in no way affected by the funding situation surrounding concessionary travel for pensioners and the disabled. This is a capital project for which funding is already in place.
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