Belfast Grand Central Station: here are some changes passengers need to know as train services begin

Sunday saw the commencement of services at the station – the largest transport facility in Ireland – with the first Enterprise departure at 8.05am described as “a truly historic moment”.

The first train arriving at the new station was the 8.30am from Portadown, arriving in Belfast at 9.15am.

The day also saw the reopening of the rail line between Belfast and Lisburn.

The new £340m public transport hub opened to the public in September with bus services only in operation at that stage.

Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd said he was “delighted” that rail services had now started from Grand Central Station and described it as “another significant step in the development of our public transport offer”.

The new station has the capacity to cater for 20 million passenger journeys a year, with eight rail platforms and 26 bus stands.

With both bus and rail services now in operation, members of the public have been urged to leave extra time for their journey to allow them to familiarise themselves with the new station.

There are also a number of rail timetable changes and passengers are advised to carefully check the new schedules before they travel.

Key changes for travellers:

A new train timetable are in operation for all lines. It can be found here.

Cross border Enterprise:

• All Enterprise services will depart from Grand Central Station
• Lanyon Place will no longer be served

Local services - NI Railways:

• All NI Railways local services will operate to / from Grand Central Station
• The rail line between Belfast and Lisburn is reopened
• Services will resume at Botanic and City Hospital stations
• Bangor line services* will now terminate at Grand Central Station
• Portadown line services* will now terminate at Grand Central Station
• All former through services* will also now require a change
• Passengers should allow extra time to interchange to another bus or rail service if continuing on a different route.

• The new train station will see the introduction of automatic ticketing gates. Passengers can purchase tickets which they can scan at gates to speed up journeys and enhance convenience.

• Passengers can buy their ticket from one of the rail ticket vending machines in the station, use the mLink mobile app or iLink Smartcard. Tickets can also be bought online and collected at the ticket vending machine.

Chris Conway, Translink Group Chief Executive said: “The commencement of rail services at Belfast Grand Central is a significant milestone in the transformation of public transport in Northern Ireland, providing integrated services which connect people and place.

"The first Enterprise departure at 8.05am today was a truly historic moment, marking the start of rail services at this iconic new facility and the return of cross border rail services to the heart of the city.

“With new rail timetables in place and many new features at the station including new ticket gates, we would encourage passengers to plan ahead and build in a bit of extra time for your journey until you familiarise yourself with the new station.”