Newcastle United fans face major travel disruption v West Ham amid planned Metro works.

A significant rail shutdown between South Gosforth and Heworth this weekend is expected to hamper travel plans during the Easter Weekend. This involves interruption for Newcastle United fans travelling to St James’ Park for the game against West Ham.

From Friday, March 29 to Monday, April 1, no Metro trains will run between South Gosforth and Heworth while improvements are made to the tunnels beneath Newcastle’s city centre. A bus replacement service will operate between the impacted stations, with Metro tickets and passes valid on these routes.

People using these bus services have been reminded that trip times would be longer than the Metro equivalent, and that fans headed to the game should leave plenty of time to avoid any traffic congestion. Anyone who has purchased a Magpie Mover will be able to use it on both bus replacement services and regular permitted bus routes.

Trains will resume a regular schedule on Tuesday, April 2, just in time for Newcastle’s match versus Everton at St James’ Park that evening.

Saturday’s game has been rescheduled for TV transmission and will begin at 12:30pm. This might be a critical encounter for both sides’ ambitions of qualifying for European football next season. The Magpies enter the game four points behind their opponents with a game in hand, looking to rebound after defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City before the international break, which dropped them to 10th in the Premier League table and eliminated them from the FA Cup.