The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland. It has been described as the "first modern light rail system in the United Kingdom". The system is currently both owned and operated by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus), thus is fully under public ownership and operation.
A Metrocar at Monument in 2015, branded in the current black and yellow colour scheme.
A South Tyneside NER electric unit at Newcastle Central station, 1938
The Byker Viaduct, built for the Metro, was the first such structure in Britain to be built using cantilevered concrete sections with joints glued with epoxy resin.
The escalator shaft at Haymarket, under construction in the late 1970s.
Light rail transit (LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit characterized by a combination of tram and rapid transit features. While its rolling stock is similar to that of a traditional tram, it operates at a higher capacity and speed and often on an exclusive right-of-way. In many cities, light rail transit systems more closely resemble, and are therefore indistinguishable from, traditional underground or at-grade subways and heavy-rail metros.
Los Angeles' expansion of mass transit has been driven in large part by light rail.
Utah Transit Authority's TRAX has 50 stations on three lines.
The CTrain is a light rail system operated by Calgary Transit.
The light rail in Tunis, Tunisia, was the first light rail system in Africa.
