The Four Lane Ends Interchange is a multimodal transport hub in the borough of

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered by Ne ...

in the English metropolitan county of

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

. It includes a station on the

Tyne and Wear Metro 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 (together forming Tyne and Wear). The owners Nexus have ...

, a bus station and a multi-storey car park. The metro station opened on 11 August 1980, but it is situated on the site of a previous station that opened in 1864, closed in 1871, and was variously called Benton, Long Benton and Longbenton. The interchange serves the suburbs of Benton and

Longbenton Longbenton is a district of North Tyneside, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is largely occupied by an extensive estate originally built as municipal housing by Newcastle City Council in the 1930s and extended in the 1950s. It is ser ...

. Nearby employment sites include

Benton Park View Benton Park View, located in Benton, a suburb of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, is a multi-agency site of the UK Government. The complex is one of the largest secure civilian government complexes in Europe. The site is owned by ...

to the west, Tyneview Park to the south east, and

Quorum Business Park Quorum Business Park is an office development located in North Tyneside, North East England. Overview Quorum was a part of the North Tyneside Enterprise Zone that existed from 1996 to 2006. The site originally housed Viasystems, a major semico ...

to the north.

History

The original

Blyth and Tyne Railway The Blyth and Tyne Railway was a railway company in Northumberland, England, incorporated by Act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament on 30 June 1852. It was created to unify the various private railways and Wagonway, waggonways built to carry ...

station at this site opened on 26 June 1864, with the opening of the line, but closed on 1 March 1871, with the opening of the new station that became Benton Metro station. It is referred to as ''Long Benton'' in its owner's timetables, as ''Longbenton'' on their map, and as ''Benton'' in ''

Bradshaw's Guide ''Bradshaw's'' was a series of Rail transport, railway Public transport timetable, timetables and travel guide books published by W.J. Adams and later Henry Blacklock, both of London. They are named after founder George Bradshaw, who produced ...

''. The last remains of this station disappeared during the construction of the metro station. It should not be confused with the much later station, on a different site, that became Longbenton Metro station. The current station opened on 11 August 1980 with the opening of the first phase of the metro, between Haymarket and

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

. The station is located at the junction of Benton Lane ( A188), Benton Park Road ( A191) and Front Street ( A191). The crossroads has historically been important for traders,

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

drivers, and those transporting local

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

s and

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

towards the

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

s and

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

in Newcastle. Unlike neighbouring

and Benton, Four Lane Ends was purpose-built for the

network. These purpose-built stations, such as Four Lane Ends, Heworth and

Regent Centre Regent Centre is a large business park and residential complex in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The business park is home to a variety of companies, including banking group Virgin Money UK, Virgin Money whose Head Office is located on t ...

, had a definite corporate look of rectangular blocks, light enamelled wall panels, and black roofing. The interchange was redeveloped in 2004, to include a 475 space

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

, as well as improved passenger facilities. As part of the ''Metro: All Change'' programme, new lifts were installed at Four Lane Ends in 2012, with new escalators installed in 2015.

Facilities

The interchange comprises the metro station, a bus station, a taxi rank, and a multi-storey car park that has 457 spaces plus 22 accessible spaces. There is also the provision for cycle parking, with five cycle pods, five cycle lockers, and 18 cycle spaces. The interchange also houses a small number of shops and services, including a newsagents, sandwich shop and hairdressers. There are public and disabled toilet facilities. The metro station is at the lowest level of the interchange, is fully covered by the buildings above, and has two side platforms. Step-free access is available, with lifts, as well as stairs and escalators, providing step-free access between the platforms and the interchange building above. Each platform is equipped with seating, next train information displays, timetable posters, and an emergency help point. Four Lane Ends Interchange

The interchange is equipped with ticket machines, which are able to accept payment with credit and debit card (including

contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) for making sec ...

), notes and coins. The interchange is also fitted with smartcard validators, which feature at all stations across the network. The bus station is located above the metro station and surrounding the interchange building. It is served by

Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United Kingdom. ...

Go North East Go North East is a bus operator running both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead No ...

and Stagecoach in Newcastle's local bus services, with frequent routes serving

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and

. The bus station has seven departure stands (lettered A–G), each of which is fitted with seating, next bus information displays, and timetable posters.

Services

, the station is served by up to five trains per hour per direction on weekdays and Saturday, and up to four trains per hour during the evening and on Sunday. In the eastbound direction, trains run to via . In the westbound direction, trains run to via . Rolling stock used: Class 599 ''Metrocar''

Art Installations

Four Lane Ends houses two art installations, both of which were commissioned in the early 2000s. Andrew Stonyer's ''Pulse'' (2000) features in the station's courtyard, adjacent to the ticket concourse, and consists of a diameter corten steel ring, with a circle of bright neon red. Cath Campbell's ''Detour'' (2003) features on the south and west elevations of the station's multi-storey car park, creating an "animated" and "dynamic" surface, describing movement and journeys through space.

References

External links

*
Timetable and station information
for Four Lane Ends {{DEFAULTSORT:Four Lane Ends Metro station Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside 1980 establishments in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1980 Tyne and Wear Metro Yellow line stations Transport in Tyne and Wear Bus stations in Tyne and Wear