Palmersville is a station on the Tyne and Wear Metro, serving Forest Hall and Holystone in North Tyneside. The station joined the network in March 1986 – almost six years after the line was originally opened between Haymarket and Tynemouth. Palmersville is situated on the opposite side of the bridge with Great Lime Road to the short-lived Benton Square station. The station opened on 1 July 1909, under the North Eastern Railway, closing on 20 September 1915, as part of an economy measure during the First World War. Prior to the opening of the station, the distance between Benton and Shiremoor was the longest between stations on the network. Heading east from Palmersville, the route runs alongside a single-track line, which is used by freight services to and from North Blyth and Lynemouth. As of May 2020, proposals exist for the reinstatement of a passenger service over this route, as far as Ashington, as part of the Northumberland Line project. It is expected that additional platforms would be constructed at the nearby Northumberland Park station, in order to accommodate the new rail service, with a predicted September 2023 opening. In 2011, Palmersville was the first station on the network to be fitted with new ticket machines and smartcard validators, as part of the Metro: All Change programme. A total of 225 new ticket machines were installed, at 60 stations, between 2011 and 2013. The station was used by 221,793 passengers in 2017–18, making it the third-least-used station in North Tyneside, after Hadrian Road and Percy Main.
Facilities
Step-free access is available at all stations across the Tyne and WearMetro network, with ramped access to both platforms. The station is equipped with ticket machines, waiting shelter, seating, next train information displays, timetable posters, and an emergency help point on both platforms. Ticket machines are able to accept payment with credit and debit card, notes and coins. The station is also fitted with smartcard validators, which feature at all stations across the network. There is no dedicated car parking available at the station. There is the provision for cycle parking, with 5 cycle pods available for use.
Service and frequency
Palmersville is served by the, which operates between South Shields and St. James with an end-to-end journey time of 83 minutes. Services from platform 1 operate towards South Shields, with the first train departing at 05:51. Services from platform 2 operate towards St. James via Whitley Bay, with the first train departing at 05:13. Trains run frequently across the network, at intervals of up to every 12 minutes, and every 15 minutes, with the last trains departing at around midnight. Additional trains run during morning and evening peak hours between Pelaw and Monkseaton. This provides up to 10 trains per hour through the station at peak times. Journey times from Palmersville are:
