Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station
Great Victoria Street  |
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| Location | |
| Place | Belfast |
| Local authority | Belfast City |
| Coordinates | 54°35′39″N 5°56′10″W / 54.5942°N 5.9362°WCoordinates: 54°35′39″N 5°56′10″W / 54.5942°N 5.9362°W |
| Operations | |
| Platforms in use | 4 |
| History | |
| 1839 | First station opened |
| 1976 | First station closed |
| 1995 | Second station opened |
 UK Railways portal |
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Belfast Great Victoria Street is a major railway station serving the city centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is one of two major stations in the city, along with Belfast Central, and is one of the four stations located in the city centre, the others being Belfast Central, Botanic and City Hospital. It is near Great Victoria St. one of Belfast's premier commercial zones, and Sandy Row. It is in a more central position than Belfast Central, with the Europa Hotel, Grand Opera House and The Crown Liquor Saloon all nearby.
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History [edit]
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The station is on the site of a former linen mill, where Durham Street crossed the Blackstaff River.
The Ulster Railway opened the first station on 12 August 1839. It was Belfast's first railway terminus, and as such was called just "Belfast" until 1852. By then two other railway companies had opened termini in Belfast, so the Ulster Railway renamed its terminus "Belfast Victoria Street" for clarity. 1852 was also the year that the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway was completed, making Victoria Street the terminus for one of the most important main lines on the island of Ireland. The Ulster Railway had added a new station building in 1848, and changed the station name again to "Great Victoria Street" in 1856.
In 1876 the Ulster Railway became part of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), making Great Victoria Street the terminus for a network that extended south to Dublin and west to Derry and Bundoran.
Express passenger traffic to and from Dublin Connolly station has always been Great Victoria Street's most prestigious traffic. The GNR upgraded its expresses over the decades and in 1947 introduced the Enterprise non-stop service between the two capitals. As Belfast suburbs grew, commuter traffic also grew in volume and importance for the GNR and for Great Victoria Street station.
In April 1976 Northern Ireland Railways closed both Great Victoria Street and the Belfast Queen's Quay terminus of the Bangor line and replaced them with a new Belfast Central station. Great Victoria Steet station was demolished and the Great Northern Tower built in its place.
The second Great Victoria Street Station was opened on 30 September 1995.[1] It is only yards from the site of its predecessor.
Railway station [edit]
The current station has two island platforms providing a total of four platform faces. Platforms 2 and 3 run the full length of the site and open onto the station's main concourse. Platforms 1 and 4 are half the length and are accessible by walking down the other platforms.
Great Victoria Street is the hub of Northern Ireland's suburban rail services, with Bangor line, Derry Line, Newry line and weekend Larne Line trains all terminating there.
Service [edit]
On Mondays to Saturdays, there are half hourly services to Bangor or Portadown on the Bangor and Portadown Lines, with some Portadown-bound trains continuing on to Newry.
There is also a half hourly service on the Larne Line, with the terminus alternating between Whitehead and Larne Harbour every half an hour.
Derry Line trains operate hourly from Great Victoria Street, with the services alternating each hour between services to Londonderry Waterside, and services to Coleraine, most of which continue to Portrush via the Coleraine-Portrush railway line.
On Sundays, the Bangor, Larne, and Portadown Line services all reduce to hourly operation. Derry Line services reduce to two-hourly operation, with only seven trains running each way. All Derry Line trains operate to and from Londonderry Waterside on Sundays, except for the final train of the evening, which terminates at Coleraine.
| Preceding station | Northern Ireland Railways |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry |
City Hospital | ||
| Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Larne |
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| Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Bangor |
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| City Hospital | Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Newry |
Adelaide | ||
| Proposed | ||||
| Terminus | Enterprise Belfast-Dublin |
Portadown | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Terminus | Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Enterprise Express |
Amiens Street Line and station open |
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Rail Air Link [edit]
Railway access from Great Victoria Street at Sydenham links into George Best Belfast City Airport on the line to Bangor.
Future [edit]
NI Railways are to build a new traincare facility next to Adelaide station for its new Class 4000 diesel multiple units. The opportunity is being taken to improve the infrastructure at Great Victoria Street; there are plans to reduce the curves by realigning the track, and move the buffer stops and the route from the platforms to the concourse to the other side of Durham Street. Also there are plans to add a fifth platform to the station. These plans will culminate in Enterprise services transferring from Belfast Central to Great Victoria Street.[2]
Europa Buscentre [edit]
Great Victoria Street is part of a major public transport interchange, being adjacent to the Europa Buscentre. This was built in 1991 as the ground floor level of a multi-storey car park.[3] The Buscentre is the Belfast terminus for most Ulsterbus "Goldline" services in Northern Ireland. These serve various destinations that are not on the railway network, including Enniskillen, Banbridge, Omagh, Downpatrick, Cavan, Newcastle, Strabane and Armagh. Also, services from the Buscentre serve both Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport directly.[4] Ulsterbus runs joint services with Bus Éireann for its direct express service to Dublin and Dublin Airport, with National Express to Dumfries, Carlisle, Manchester, Birmingham, Milton Keynes and London, and with Citylink to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
| Preceding station | Ulsterbus | Following station | ||
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| Newry Buscentre | Goldline Belfast-Dublin (Route 200) |
Terminus | ||
| Bus Éireann Dublin-Belfast (Route 001) |
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| Toomebridge By-Pass | Goldline Belfast-Derry (Route 212) |
Terminus | ||
| Adelaide Street | Goldline Belfast-Downpatrick (Route 215) Belfast-Newcastle (Route 237) |
Terminus | ||
| Belfast High Street | Goldline Belfast-Coleraine (Route 218) Belfast-Ballymena (Route 219) |
Terminus | ||
| Portadown Market Street | Goldline Belfast-Armagh/Monaghan (Route 251) |
Terminus | ||
| Dungannon Bus Station | Goldline Belfast-Enniskillen (Route 261) |
Terminus | ||
| Goldline Belfast-Derry via Omagh (Route 273) |
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| Belfast International Airport | Goldline Airport Express (Route 300) |
Terminus | ||
| Belfast City Airport | Goldline Airport Express (Route 600) |
Terminus | ||
| Stranraer Ferry Terminal via Stena Line |
Eurolines Belfast-London |
Terminus | ||
| Eurolines Belfast-Edinburgh |
Gallery [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Great Victoria Street railway station (Belfast) |
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View in 1975 with the Enterpise to Dublin Connolly.
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View of platforms in 1995.
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Platforms 2 and 3 at Great Victoria Street in August 2007.
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NIR service in 2011 on the Belfast–Derry railway line.
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The permanent way down the platforms in 2011.
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References [edit]
- ^ "Great Victoria Street Station1". BBC NI. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
- ^ Ferris, Cyril (2009). "Enterprise moving to Great Victoria Street?". Today's Railways (97): 37.
- ^ Europa Buscentre - Robinson McIlwaine
- ^ Goldline Timetable
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