| Belfast Central | |
|---|---|
| Station on East Bridge Street. The station was opened on 26 April 1976 and has undergone a major overhaul in recent years. | |
| Location | |
| Place | East Bridge Street, Belfast |
| Local authority | Belfast City |
| Operations | |
| Platforms in use | 4 |
| History | |
| 1976 | Opened |
| 2003 | Refurbished |
| NI Railways - Translink - NI railway stations | |
Belfast Central is a railway station serving the city of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is one of the four stations located in Belfast City Centre, the others being Great Victoria Street, City Hospital and Botanic.
Located on East Bridge Street in the city, Central is the northern terminus of the cross border Enterprise service to Dublin Connolly, which runs every two hours. As well as this service, Central is also served by Northern Ireland Railways, which operates routes to other locations in Northern Ireland, including Derry, Bangor, Portadown and Larne.
Regular services also operate between Central and the city's other main station: Great Victoria Street. Intending passengers travelling to and from Central are at present, upon presentation of a valid rail ticket, permitted to travel at no cost on Belfast's Metro service to the city centre.
Despite the name of the station, it is significantly further from Belfast city centre than Great Victoria Street station. Contrary to popular belief, Central Station is in fact so named because it is on the former trackbed of the Belfast Central Railway, which was built in the early 1870s. The station itself was opened on 26 April 1976.[1] The first Station Manager was Mr John Johnston.
By the 1990s, it became clear that the facilities at Central were in need of upgrading. A major refurbishment programme started in 2000 and was completed in 2003.[2]
There are two Island Platforms at Belfast Central, capable of accommodating trains up to 9 coaches long. Enterprise services are only able to serve platforms 2 and 4 due to the curvature of the track.
Platform 1 is used by southbound trains from Derry or Portrush on their way to Great Victoria Street. Platform 2 tends to be used for Enterpise services to Dublin. Platform 3 is a bi-directional platform used for northbound trains heading to Derry, Portrush and Bangor, and by trains coming from Bangor on route to Portadown via Great Victoria Street and Platform 4 is used for trains terminating off the Larne Line.
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From Monday to Saturday, there is a half hourly service from Bangor to Portadown, with some trains continuing on to Newry. During peak times there are up to 6 trains per hour operating to Bangor with 3 being express services and the other half being slow services stopping at all stations between here and Bangor. The service is reduced to hourly operation in the evenings. Some early morning trains in either direction will terminate at or start from Great Victoria Street rather than continuing on through Belfast to the respective outlying terminus.
On Sundays, the service is hourly operating between Bangor and Portadown. There are no local services calling at stations between Portadown and Newry on Sundays.
On weekdays, all inbound Larne Line services terminate at Belfast Central running half hourly between Carrickfergus. One train per hour continues on to Larne Harbour. During peak times a few more outbound services proceed to Larne however there are a small number of services terminating or starting at Whitehead. A few extra inbound services operate to Great Victoria Street. The service is reduced to hourly operation in the evenings running between Belfast Central and Larne Harbour.
At weekends, Larne Line services do not terminate at Belfast Central. Instead, they proceed through to Great Victoria Street. The service still calls half-hourly at Belfast Central in each direction, with the outbound terminus again alternating between Carrickfergus and Larne Harbour. On Sundays, the service still runs through to Great Victoria Street, however is reduced to operating every one and a half hours. All Sunday trains operate between Great Victoria Street and Larne Harbour.
All Derry Line trains call at Belfast Central. During the week, the service runs every two hours in each direction between Londonderry Waterside and Great Victoria Street. Some extra services run to and from Portrush or Ballymena at peak times.
On Saturdays, the service is slightly reduced, however operation remains much the same as during the week. On Sundays, there are only five trains in each direction.
There is an Enterprise train service every two hours between Dublin Connolly and Belfast Central, with the service being reduced to five trains each way on Sundays.
| Preceding station | Northern Ireland Railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portadown or Lisburn |
Enterprise Belfast-Dublin |
Terminus | ||
| Botanic | Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry |
Yorkgate | ||
| Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Larne |
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| Botanic | Northern Ireland Railways Newry-Bangor |
Bridge End | ||
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