Great North Run 2023: Extra Metro and LNER trains

LNER said it will run extra services to north-east England during the Great North Run

Additional train services will be in operation on the day of the Great North Run to cope with the extra demand.

LNER and Nexus, which operates the Tyne and Wear Metro, will provide the extra services on 10 September.

Thousands of people are expected to travel via rail into Newcastle city centre for the race, which will end in South Shields.

Some Metro stations will be closed at certain times to assist with crowd control.

LNER, which runs services between Scotland, north-east England and London, said it will lay on six extra trains on Sunday morning.

It said these will run from Edinburgh Waverley, Durham, Darlington, Doncaster, Leeds and Newcastle, in addition to existing scheduled services,

Warrick Dent, safety and operations director at LNER, urged passengers to plan ahead, adding: "We recommend customers make sure they have a seat reservation for the most comfortable journey."

Queues warning

Meanwhile, extra Tyne and Wear Metro services will operate in the morning and after the race has finished.

Nexus said "crowd control measures" will be in place and warned passengers to prepare to wait in long queues.

It said some Metro stations would temporary close to improve the flow of pedestrians travelling to and from the event. They include:

• Haymarket, which will be exit only from 08:00 to 10:40 BST with passengers urged to use Jesmond.

• Jesmond and Manors, from 10:40 until the early afternoon with passengers advised to use Haymarket.

• Chichester, which will be closed from 13:00 until the early evening with passengers asked to use South Shields.

About 60,000 runners are expected to take part in the Great North Run along a 13.1 mile (21km) route through Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside.