Ulster Transport Authority
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The Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland from 1948 until 1966.
The UTA was formed by the 1948 Transport Act (NI), which merged the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board (NIRTB) and the Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR). Added to this in 1949 was the Northern Counties Committee (NCC), owned by the Railway Executive since its previous owners, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), had been nationalised into British Railways in 1948.
Quite substantial closures took place and in 1958 the Great Northern Railway Board (GNRB) was split between Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE, the Republic of Ireland's nationalised railway system) and the UTA. The UTA took over the GNR system in Northern Ireland, but by 1965 they had closed down more than half of it.
Transport Acts in 1966 saw the organisation split into road and rail operations, rail being taken over by Ulster Transport Railways (UTR) which a year later was renamed Northern Ireland Railways (NIR). The bus operations were taken over by a new company called Ulsterbus which was formed that same year.
