Portadown railway line closures planned for essential engineering works

The work is scheduled for Saturday / Sunday, April 8 and 9 and on Saturday / Sunday, April 22 and 23.

To facilitate the works, there will be a line closure between Belfast Great Victoria Street and Portadown stations, with bus substitution services in place for local rail and cross-border Enterprise services.

The bus substitution will operate between Belfast Great Victoria Street and Portadown, servicing Adelaide, Balmoral, Finaghy, Dunmurry, Derriaghy, Lambeg, Hilden, Moira and Lurgan from main road bus stops. Passengers are asked to check before they travel as bus substitution times may differ from usual scheduled rail departure times.

NI Railways tickets will also be valid for use on Ulsterbus and Metro scheduled services.

Works will take place at multiple sites to maximise the closure period. The main work will see the start of a major signalling upgrade at Lisburn, but during the closure there will also there will also be some works in the Belfast area for the new Belfast Grand Central Station works at Adelaide and Finaghy platforms and tunnel repairs will be completed during the closure.

Enterprise services will operate as normal between Portadown and Dublin Connolly, with bus substitution in place between Belfast Lanyon Place and Newry. An express coach service will run from between Newry and Belfast Lanyon Place.

Normal rail services will operate between Belfast and Bangor.

Translink is urging passengers to plan ahead and check timetables before they travel as minor alterations to services may have been made to accommodate bus substitutions. They can check online at www.translink.co.uk or use the Journey Planner before they travel and are asked to allow extra time for their journey.

Translink’s John Glass, Director of Infrastructure and Projects said: “We are committed to investing, upgrading and enhancing the rail network, with major projects progressing significantly over recent years. These projects are vital to protect and modernise our infrastructure to maintain high quality, safe, and attractive rail services for everyone.

"While the vast majority of the project works are usually undertaken at night, these line closures are essential to complete the work efficiently and safely. They will also enable us to reduce any long term passenger disruption.

"We have carefully planned theses closures to minimise the overall impact on the majority of our passengers,” he said.