Misplaced Pages

NI Railways

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jamesbrownontheroad (talk | contribs) at 20:00, 3 August 2006 (Routes: Suspended routes). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 20:00, 3 August 2006 by Jamesbrownontheroad (talk | contribs) (Routes: Suspended routes)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
File:Translink northernirelandrailways.PNG
File:NI train.jpg
Franchise(s)Not subject to franchising.
NIR is a subsidiary of the government-owned NITHCo
Main Region(s)Northern Ireland
Other Region(s)None
Stations called at59
Parent companyNITHCo (Translink)
Other
Websitewww.nirailways.co.uk/

Northern Ireland Railways (NIR or NI Railways) – formerly, and very briefly, known as Ulster Transport Railways (UTR) – is the railway operator responsible for running the railway network in Northern Ireland. Currently the sole-surviving state-owned inter-urban train operator in the UK, it is a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, and has a common Board of Management with the other two transport Companies, Ulsterbus and Citybus, trading under the brand name Translink. The rail network in Northern Ireland is not part of the National Rail network that operates on the island of Great Britain. As a consequence of this, and its status as a state owned operator, Northern Ireland Railways is not considered to be one of the Train Operating Companies.

Routes=

NIR currently maintains the following railway lines

NIR operates regular passenger services with a mixed fleet of two, three and four carraige single class Diesel multiple unit (DMU) and Diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) trains along the following major routes (not all intermidate stops are listed):

  • Portadown, Lisburn, Belfast Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central and Bangor
  • Belfast Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central and Larne
  • Belfast Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central, Antrim, Ballymena, Coleraine and Londonderry
  • Coleraine and Portrush

Suspended Routes

Following the re-opening of the fifteen mile Antrim - Bleach Green line in June 2001 (which had been closed since 1978) NIR ceased passenger operations on the alternative stretch of line between Lisburn and Antrim. Combined with the the newly built Cross-Harbour Rail Link across the River Lagan in Belfast, the Bleach Green route offered faster journey times between Londonderry, Coleraine Antrim and Belfast.

The infrastructure of the Lisburn-Antrim railway line is still maintained, and occasional crew training operations are performed on the line, but Ballinderry, Glenavy and Crumlin stations have closed. Speculation remains that the route could one day re-opened, potentially to offer an alternative Antrim - Lisburn - Belfast service. The line passes very close to Belfast International Airport at Aldergrove, although the airport is unlikely to ever handle the volume of passengers necessary to justify the construction of a new station.

the longer route between Lisburn and Antrim is no longer used for passenger trains, and its future remains unclear.

On the cross-border route between Belfast, Newry, Dundalk and Dublin, NIR operates a joint service of fast trains (the Enterprise) in conjunction with the national railway company of the Republic of Ireland, Iarnród Éireann.

History

A former logo of the company

NIR was formed in 1968 when it took over from the Ulster Transport Authority, which had operated since 1948. Much of Northern Ireland's railway network was closed during the 1950s and 1960s, declining from 1500 km (900 miles) in the 1950s to 342 km (210 miles) at present.

From the 1960s the NIR network became increasingly run down, with old rolling stock and worn out track. In 2004/2005, NI Railways began to receive delivery of 23 new Class 3000 DMUs from CAF of Spain, in an order which totalled £80m. The final train, 3023, arrived in Belfast Harbour on 18 July 2005. All the units had entered service by 24 September 2005, each one having had to complete 2000 miles of fault-free running before doing so.


External links

Sources

Categories: