Trains to start running from Grand Central Station

The new station opened for buses five weeks ago

Translink says it expects trains to start running at Belfast’s new Grand Central Station in 10 days’ time.

Sunday 13 October has been pencilled in as the date for the start of train services at the £340m station.

The rail line between Belfast and Lisburn has been closed for more than three months, with bus replacement services put in place.

The new station opened for buses five weeks ago but the train terminal has been closed until safety certification was gained.

A new rail timetable will be in place on the Translink website from 7 October.

Translink chief executive Chris Conway said he was pleased that "good progress" had been made on the rail safety certification process.

“While our teams across Translink and Department for Infrastructure will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the completion of this process, we are now taking appropriate steps to plan the start of rail services from Grand Central Station on Sunday 13 October," he said.

The existing Enterprise timetable of eight trains each way between Belfast and Dublin from Monday to Saturday and seven trains each way on Sunday will run from Grand Central Station from 13 October.

Mr Conway said an hourly service between the cities was due to launch on 29 October.

He said 15 cross-border services would leave Belfast every day in a "massive boost for people, communities, businesses, the economy and the environment".

Bus launch 'very smooth and positive'

The railway tracks in central Belfast have been reconfigured to accommodate the new Grand Central Station.

The transport hub has been designed to bring bus and rail services together under one roof in a state-of-the-art new complex.

Grand Central has 26 bus stands and eight train platforms.

Translink said it expected expect the new station would cater for up to 20 million passenger journeys a year.

It will be 2025 before the entire development, including public realm work, is completed.

The transport hub has been built behind the previous bus and rail stations serving central Belfast - Europa bus centre and Great Victoria Street train station, which have both now closed.

Dublin timetable changes

While the hourly enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin will not begin until 29 October, some changes had already been made to the timetable.

These included new early morning services leaving Belfast at 06:00 and Dublin at 06:50.

The Newry-Belfast leg of both services is currently being operated by a replacement bus service.

The 06:00 service led to complaints from Dublin commuter town passengers travelling into the city, who said it was causing delays and cancellations to local services.

Iarnród Éireann has now apologised for the timetable changes and said services in the Dublin area would go back to their old timetable.

The early morning Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service will remain in place but will arrive at 08:23 instead of 08:16, while the 07:50 will leave at 07:40 instead, allowing more commuter trains to get into Dublin at the busiest times.