The CCTV cameras give blanket coverage of the Metro system

Home Office minister Hazel Blears is due to visit the Metro control room at South Gosforth, in Newcastle.

She will meet members of the team who installed the system, which produces broadcast-quality images.

Metro operator Nexus was awarded the funding for the network under the Home Office's Crime Reduction Programme.

The pictures from the system are admissible as evidence in court.

The CCTV system gives blanket coverage of the entire Metro network including stations, car parks, bus stations and their approaches.

Images from the more than 550 cameras will be recorded on to computer hard drives.

The cameras will be monitored by local authority control rooms in each of the five districts in Tyne and Wear.