This is Gateshead Metro Station which is part of the Tyne & Wear 
Metro system which now has 60 stations on it and is used by about 
40 million people a year and covers about 48 miles of track.
The Metro alignment includes most of two of the world's oldest 

passenger railways: the Newcastle & North Shields Railway 
(Metro between Chillingham Road and North Shields) and the 
Brandling Junction Railway (between Gateshead and 
Monkwearmouth). 
Both opened in 1839, making the Metro arguably one of the world's 
oldest local rail transport systems.

The Tyne and Wear Metro was also the first railway in the UK to 
operate using the metric system; all its speeds and distances are 
measured in metric units only.